Free spirit
by Emelia Jeritut
Summary: Yuuki cannot stay anymore minute in Cross Academy. She is not herself there, she needs some change. Here is what happens when her father allows her to go to Shinrinchi High School.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone. Here his my first fanfiction so please do not judge me too badly. English is not my mother tongue so I apologize about any mistakes.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight. All the characters from the manga belong to Matsuri Hino.**

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Chapter 1: "Do you have a minute dad?"

It was the first day of summer break. Yuuki was standing in front of the heavy wooden door of the director's office. She seemed to hesitate before knocking.

"Come in" she heard.

She made sure that she was smiling as she usually did in front of those close to her and she opened the door. The director immediately ran to her and tried to catch her in his arms. She easily avoided the hug and bowed respectfully.

"My darling daughter, I wish you would not be so formal with me…" the director cried on the floor.

"Good evening Mr Director" Yuuki replied happily.

The director sighed.

"Hello Yuuki, did you need anything? If it is about the dinner, I have still a few papers to fill so I will not be back home for another hour or so but there is some chicken in the fridge if you want."

"Well it is not about that…" Yuuki said hesitantly. For a moment, her smile faded and she wondered if she would be brave enough to ask him.

"Actually, there is something I need to ask you… It is not easy to ask but… Would you agree if I asked you to go to another school?"

"What!? My baby hates me! She does not want to be around me anymore! What did I do to deserve this?!" he complained without even realising how serious she was.

"Dad!" Yuuki said "Sit down please."

He stopped and went back to sit behind his wooden desk that had been broken so many times. Yuuki knew that by calling him "Dad" she would have all of his attention. As a matter of fact, Kaien Cross was now looking at his daughter with a concerned face and seemed to be waiting for what she was going to say next.

"I actually thought a lot about it." Yuuki started "My grades here have not been so good, with my job as prefect I don't sleep much and, since you are my adoptive father, other students look at me as if I was privileged and hate me for that. I hardly have any friends beside Zero and Yori. I truly think that I would be happier and more focused on my studies if I were in another school."

"If your duty as prefect is to much, I can arrange to have other people do it, you should have told me before that it was that hard for you." Kaien replied trying to understand why suddenly his beloved daughter who always seemed so happy wanted to go away.

"It is not only that, dad, I feel like I could do so much better if I was away from Cross Academy for a while. Don't you want me to succeed and be happy?" It was a little harsh trying to manipulate his feelings, but she really needed to leave this place.

"But where would you go?"

"I found a school, it is in a city one hour away from here, it is called Shinrinchi High School. They have a dorm, it is not too expensive and the place is quite safe." she said. She had chosen this school for three reasons. First, it was not too far so the director would not be worried but at the same time it was far enough for her to feel away from home. Then it was near Isaya Shoto's house and she knew her father would feel better if one of his friends was nearby even though she had never met him. And finally, she was almost certain that Kaien didn't know much about this school.

"I see you have it all figured out." Kaien said sadly after a while. "Well I guess I should talk to Kaname about this…"

"Don't tell it to Kaname!" Yuuki replied quickly.

"Why not?"

"I don't want him to be sad. I'd rather he finds out when I'm gone" she lied when in fact she just knew that he would never let her go.

"Well Yuuki, I will think about it" he said and she knew the hardest part was done.

When she went back to her room that night, she knew that the director was probably trying to gather as much information on the school as he could. She thought about the real reasons why she wanted to leave. She had not entirely lied to her father, of course she wanted to get better and sleep at night but mostly she felt trapped at home. She smiled all the time in front of Zero, Kaname, Kaien and Yore, but inside she felt miserable. She felt like she couldn't breathe, she loved Zero almost as a brother but seeing him suffer all the time was just too much, she loved her adoptive father too but every time she looked at him she couldn't help but wonder who her real family was and why they abandoned her and it hurt. And then there was Kaname. Kaname who always had a sad look on his face when he saw her. Kaname who she loved and could never have. Kaname who was so overprotective. Well, they were all overprotective, they thought that Yuuki was weak, defenceless, just a child that was theirs to protect from everything. They kept so many secrets from her, she knew it, to keep her "safe", but all it did was suffocating her. That's why she took the decision two month ago to leave Cross Academy.

While trying to sleep, she thought about Zero and Yori, how much she was going to miss them no matter what if she truly went to Shinrinchi, they were her best friends, her only friends. She thought about Kaname too and how she was strangely both sad and relieved to be away from him for a while. Who knew, she might even meet a boy there who would make her forget Kaname.

Just before she fell asleep, she felt her door open and Kaien look melancholically at her. She knew she had won.

Three days later the director came to see her which, in itself, was weird because he never did that. He sat on her bed just beside her and started calmly:

"I will agree to your request if you promise me a few things."

"Anything" she said.

"You will call me every week, you will keep your grades above average and…"

"And?"

"You will call me Dad."

"Sure, I'll do that… Dad."

"I did not announce it to Kaname because even though I don't agree with keeping it from him, it is your decision to make. Yet, if I may, he will probably freak out when he realise that you left without a proper good bye so I strongly recommend that you call him."

Yuuki rolled her eyes.

"Now we need to complete your file, I briefly looked at it and it is quite long" her father went on.

"Don't worry about it I will take care of it" she replied without telling him that it was already ready and that it only needed his signature and the number of his bank account.

"OK, I will leave it to you then." He got up and sighed. When he was at the door, he turned to Yuuki and asked:

"Are you really sure this is what you want?"

"I am, Dad!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight, it belongs to Matsuri Hino.**

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Chapter 2: Departure

For the millionth time Yuuki checked her bags. She was so scared she would forget something. There were just two days left before back-to-school day. Since she was a transfer she was allowed to move to the dorm one day before the other students.

Her father was waiting for her just outside their house and Zero was in the hallway leaning against the wall. When she passed by him, he caught her in a hug. When she told him that she was going to another school a week before, he looked surprised at first then unhappy but he didn't say anything, he just hugged her. She met him later that day when she walked in the bathroom and she gave him her blood as if nothing had happened at all. She was worried about him: how would he manage her thirst while she was gone?

She joined her father, Zero helped them put all her belongings in the car and finally it was time to go. Yuuki waved Zero goodbye one last time before the car started. She settled in her seat and tried to sleep.

One hour later they were there. Shinrinchi High School. She got out of the car and looked up at the impressive dorm building. It was made out of red bricks with two white pillar around the main entrance which was a three meter tall wooden double door. They went to the reception where an old lady with curly black hair and small oval glasses led them to Yuuki's room. It was a single bedroom on the third floor with a white desk, a bed on the side and a wardrobe. On her bed was her new uniform: a white shirt, an emerald green pleated skirt with a pine green jumper and a black bow. She liked it even though she would have preferred a more formal looking uniform. Kaien started unpacking her stuff, she stopped him:

"It's alright dir… Dad I will take care of it don't worry. You still have a lot to do to plan the arrival of the Night class and Day class tomorrow."

"But I don't want to leave you…" he whispered. He then took a small package that he had in one of his huge pockets and gave it to Yuuki. "Here. It is for you so that it will be easier to keep your promise."

Yuuki opened the present. Inside was a black smartphone.

"Thank you so much Dad." she said emotionally.

"You're welcome… Are you sure you don't want to go back home princess?" he started crying now.

Yuuki nodded, hugged him and pushed him toward the door because she knew he would never leave otherwise. And with that he was gone. To say she didn't cry would be a lie, she would miss having her family right next to her but it was a small sacrifice compared to the freedom she would now have. She did not have to be the perfect little girl anymore. She could stop faking a smile all the time now.

She unpacked her things, put her clothes in the wardrobe, her toothbrush in the glass near the sink and hung some pictures on the wall near her pillow. She had selected her favourite photographs: one where she was seven in the snow, another of Zero and Kaien arguing in the kitchen, a picture of Yori and her in their bedroom, Zero eating mango with her on vacation… Even though she was excited to live her own life now she felt like she still needed those pieces of her childhood next to her bed.

She was staring at the pictures when the old grumpy receptionist knocked on her door and handed her a letter. She opened it as soon as the door closed. She was summoned by the school director. It was signed Mr Mori. _Weird_ she thought. She believed the director was a woman…

She found her way to the director's office and knocked. The door opened to reveal a young man, thirty at most, in a black suit. His hair was dark red and his eyes lavender blue.

"Welcome Yuuki Cross" he said half smiling "Please come in. I am Mr Mori. Come have a sit."

Yuuki looked at him warily but that in one of the big blue armchairs. She felt that something was wrong about it, but she couldn't see quite what.

"Don't look so tensed" he tried to reassure her "Well, I believe you were expecting to see Mrs Gibeki."

Yuuki nodded but her face remained closed at the name of the alleged director.

"Let me explain." Mr Mori continued. "To put it simply, I have quite a long life span so I rule my school officially for 30 years then I find a "facade director" for 70 years to be the face of the school while I rule in the shadow and on and on again."

"You are a vampire, right?" Yuuki asked understanding at last what was off about him.

"I am. And I bet you know why I asked you to come here now."

"Actually, I don't."

"Well you are the daughter of the legendary Kaien Cross and a close friend of Kaname Kuran's. At least that's what I heard. I think you are interesting and I believe we will do great things together here. That's why I wanted to meet you."

One hour later, she was done with her meeting with this creepy director. On her way back she met a boy, approximately her age, who was going toward the director's office. He was wearing the school uniform. When he came to her level he nodded his head. She almost smiled by reflex but kept her composed face and nodded back.

When she came back to her room she fell on her bed, exhausted. She texted her father to tell him that everything went fine, she did not tell him about the director though. She fell asleep really easily that night. She needed to rest: she would meet the rest of the school the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I Don't own Vampire Knight or its characters.**

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Chapter 3: First day

Yuuki woke up early the next morning. She dressed in her new uniform and decided not to wear the jumper as the weather was still quite summery. She looked at herself in the mirror. She had let her hair grow during the holidays, but they were still just below her collarbones, she wanted to get rid of her bangs as well. She never wore her hair up at least not at home and thought that since her life just changed she might as well change her hairstyle. There were pins on her shelf, so she took them and braided two sections of her hair around face and put them in a half bun at the back of her head. Pleased with the result, she headed out of her room. She felt classy and confident. In the corridor, she met the grumpy receptionist.

"Black shoes only" the old lady mumbled in a low tone.

"Excuse me?"

"You're wearing brown shoes; only black shoes are accepted with the uniform."

"I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'll go buy black shoes after the meeting." she replied.

The receptionist pouted and left her.

The welcome meeting with the director, the "facade director" really, was scheduled at two in the afternoon. It was only ten, so she decided to go around the campus and see if there were people there. She saw a lot of kids with their parents, kissing them goodbye or just getting the keys to their rooms with them. There were also students who did not live in the dorm as their houses were close by. One girl in particular caught Yuuki's eye. She was getting out of a cab and tried to lift a heavy-looking suitcase. What was striking about her was that she wore a male uniform with emerald green trousers instead of the skirt, she still wore the bow and not the tie like boys but instead of wearing it under the collar of her shirt she used it as a choker necklace. Other than that, she had a platinum blond lob and was way taller than Yuuki. The latest was probably staring for too long because the blond girl seemed to notice her. She tilted her head to the side with a smile and started walking toward Yuuki.

"Hello" she said with a foreign accent while extending her arm to shake Yuuki's hand. "My name is Emily Bardin. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. I was a bit afraid that I would not meet anybody here since I am new but still couldn't be here for the transfers' first day. But of course, I am foreign, and I couldn't change my flight, so I had to arrive today. Daddy told me I was going to be OK but I didn't believe him at first. Now I see that it is going to be just fine. Oh wait! I didn't even ask you your name. Silly me! I talk way too much! Anyway, what it your name?"

"Yuuki Cross." she simply answered even though her expression softened.

"Splendid! I hope we will spend some time together. I will be on the third-floor, room 314 if you are looking for me. See you at the meeting!"

And with that she was gone dragging her heavy suitcase behind her.

 _Well, she is very friendly and energetic,… oh and talkative_ too Yuuki thought. She continued her tour but met nobody quite as unique as Emily.

The meeting started with a boring classic welcome speech from Mrs Gibeki. Then a group of last-year students came on the stage. On top of their uniforms they all wore an emerald green short cape. "The student council" she heard people whisper among themselves. They all looked very confident. One of the boys came forward and welcomed back all the students. He explained how the school life would be organized as well as the role of the student council. He finished by saying that there would be an election to choose the student council in one-month time. When he was done, all students got up and scattered away. In the middle of this mess, she saw one of the girls from the student council bow respectfully to the boy she saw go to the director's office the previous day. The council male student who spoke earlier on the contrary nodded his head with a poisonous look in his eyes. She was so absorbed in her staring that she did not notice Emily running to her until the last second when the tall girl crashed in her arms.

"Yuu!" she shouted very cheerfully "Do you mind if I call you Yuu? I think it really suits you. I was thinking about having tea back in my room, I've brought some wonderful tea from home, one of them is peach flavoured, it's my favourite! Do you want to come and have tea with me? We could chat, I could tell you about my last skiing vacations and how I broke my knee."

"I must go out to buy shoes" Yuuki replied without answering the question about that new nickname which she thought to be quite cute actually.

"Can I come?" Emily asked and Yuuki could see the stars sparkling in her eyes when she waited for her to answer.

"Sure."

"Awesome!"

During all the trip to go to the shopping centre Emily talked: about her vacation, her dog named bubble, how the weather was compared to her home country. And on and on she went. Occasionally she would ask Yuuki about her life. Yuuki always answered concisely but Emily did not seem to mind and Yuuki was grateful for that as she felt she finally had someone she could be herself with. She started to like the foreign girl. In between her friend's monologues, she found time to look at her cell phone. _Kaname is not pleased. Call him!_ Her Dad texted. She put her phone away deciding that this matter would wait.

They arrived at the shoe store and Yuuki picked a pair of black stilettos as well a pair of black suede chukker boots with a 9 cm heel. It was not what she was used to wear but it matched her true personality: confident and a little bit mysterious. Anything would be better than her old Cross Academy brown boots anyway. Thankfully her Dad had granted her a monthly budget, it was not much but still enough to pay for two pair of shoes. Not much more however.

When they got out of the store, they fell upon the guy from the director's office. For the first time, Yuuki examined him. He was tall, not as much as Kaname or Zero but still at least 15 cm taller than her. He had short ash blond hair and gorgeous golden eyes, his face was sharp, and he looked slender yet muscular. There was something that felt dangerous about him however, but Yuuki did not know why. He smiled at them, and said while looking at Yuuki:

"Good afternoon miss."

His voice was rich and as soon as he walked away, Emily turned to Yuuki to request:

"You have to tell me how you know this handsome dude!"

"I don't really."

They headed back to the dorm and for the first time in ages Yuuki truly smiled.

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 **Here is the third chapter. Please leave a review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 4: A feared call

The following days class began normally. Yuuki knew she had to keep her grades high enough to stay here. Thankfully, she got so exited at the prospect of studying here that she worked a lot in the last months. She was actually not that bad at school once she had some sleep and paid attention.

She was in class 11-B, Emily was in 11-A and so was the mysterious boy they met at the shopping centre. Emily said he was very secretive, nobody knew anything about him, and he was always with the same students: two members of the council, the girl Yuuki saw at the welcome meeting and a guy. The only thing Emily knew about him was his name, Aruto Toma, and the fact that he was very popular among female students. It annoyed the tall girl a lot, she who loved to know and tell everything about everybody. She complained a lot to Yuuki during their daily afternoon teas.

As for Yuuki she was quite popular herself. With her hair that she now styled in elaborate half buns every day, her high heels and her soft but unreadable face, she attracted a lot of attention. Yuuki acted as if she did not notice anything and she helped those who came to her asking for advice either on their style or on their work. Both those demands were new to Yuuki but she answered gracefully to any question that was asked to her, and she started to enjoy the newly earned respect and trust her classmate gave her. Soon she had the etiquette of the "inaccessible but cool and gentle girl". That was what she wanted, it was partially to experience those sorts of things that she decided to come to Shinrinchi.

Finally, four days after back-to-school day, she had to call her father. She had kind of ignored his texts saying how pissed Kaname was. She called home, Zero answered and indistinctly mumbled that the director was here. As soon as he had the phone Kaien started shouting:

"My beloved princess! How have you been? Why do you ignore me?"

"I am very good. I am sorry I was so busy with class and homework that I didn't find the time to text you." she said in the fake happy voice she used at home.

"Oh, well, wonderful then." he answered "Yuuki you have to call Kaname, he is really worried and the only reason he didn't drive straight to your school was because I convinced him that it would make you really mad."

 _Indeed, it would have_ Yuuki thought to herself.

"But of course, I know you would never get mad at anybody, it was just to keep him calm." Kaien explained laughing.

They talked for half an hour before Yuuki hung up. She knew she had to call Kaname and have a serious conversation with him, but she decided to wait until dark, no need to make him even angrier by waking him up. She could not be productive when she did her homework that afternoon as she was stressed, anticipating the call.

Finally, at nine, she dialled his number. After only two rings he picked up:

"Yuuki where are you? What is this madness? You will come back here at once Yuuki, I am not kidding you shouldn't be alone in a place we don't know or in any place really."

Yuuki started panicking at his angry and worried tone but she got herself together. She did not want him to know her true personality just yet, but she was not going to let him undermine her decisions either.

"Hello to you too Lord Kaname. Don't worry I'm fine, I'm at school. I like it here so no, I'm not coming back to Cross Academy." she replied calmly.

"But I don't understand, why did you leave?"

"I needed some change, and besides my grades weren't good and there was no way they were going to get better at home."

"But why didn't you tell me about it?"

This time, Yuuki did not lie or hide the truth:

"I was afraid you were going to get mad and forbid me to leave…"

"Of course I would have! Yuuki, what are you not telling me? Are you bored with my company? Why would you leave me? You know I care about you so much."

"It is not about you! Lord Kaname are you trying to blackmail me?" Yuuki started to get angry.

"I don't understand why you left. You are happy here at home, why would you want to abandon that, to bandon us?"

"It is enough Kaname, if you can't understand my need to change than I have nothing to say to you. Good bye."

She hung up. It was very difficult for her, it was the first time she talked to him this way but she was hurt that he did not support her in her choices and did not understand her feelings. She did not cry, she was not the kind of girl who cried but she stayed awake, angry for most of the night.

She was still in a bad mood when she woke up the next morning. She hardly said hello to Emily and for once her friend remained quiet. At lunch, Yuuki was still in the same state so Emily popped out the question.

"Please, Yuu, tell me what happened."

And for the first time, it was Yuuki who talked and Emily who listened. She told her friend everything: her relationship with Kaname, with Zero, how she felt, everything except the fact that they were vampires. They were sitting at a table in the parc and Emily was trying to comfort Yuuki when the girl who followed Aruto everywhere approached them.

"Hello, Miss Cross, Miss Bardin." she said, "We were wondering Miss Cross if you would like to join us after school, we are going to a little café downtown."

"Who are these "we" and why would I accept?" Yuuki replied.

"Mr Toma, Mr Kiseki and myself of course and well it would make us very happy if you came."

Yuuki assumed that Mr Kiseki was the other guy in their group. Emily leaned toward her and whispered in her ear:

"I think you should go, it would be a great opportunity to learn about this mysterious boy from my class."

Yuuki looked at her new friend and smiled. She then turned back to the girl and answered:

"Well, I guess I will come."

"Very good we leave at four at the gate."

She started to walk away when Yuuki stopped her.

"Wait! I don't even know your name."

"Arisa Shiki" she said without turning.

 _Funny_ Yuuki thought _that name reminds me of something_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Vampire Knight belongs to Matsuri Hino. I don't own the characters.**

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Chapter 5: Special tea

At four o'clock, Yuuki went to the gate. The three students were already there.

"Well, shall we get going?" Aruto asked.

They left school and headed downtown. When they got there however, they did not stop in any place. Yuuki started to feel uneasy and had an awkward sensation about this meeting. None of them had talked during the walk, she found that weird too, after all, they were the one who asked her to come. Finally, they arrived at a house, or rather a mansion. The door was opened by people who looked like servants. Their coats were taken by one of them and they went to a room where sofas and tea waited for them. They all sat and at last Aruto talked:

"I am sorry about the lie Miss Cross, I know Arisa told you we were going to a café, but I thought that if I asked you to come have tea at my house you would have never agreed."

Yuuki was astonished by the fact that this was his house, he had to be very rich! Yet none of her thoughts appeared on her calm face.

"May I know why I was so kindly invited? I don't mean to be rude but we don't know each other." she asked politely.

"No, we don't…" Aruto replied seeming amused "But I was curious. It is not everyday that one gets to meet the daughter of a legendary hunter, let alone the only human, or should I say the only person, that Kaname Kuran treasures."

Yuuki understood better now why she felt weird around him. She sipped a little bit of her tea and said as if it did not affect her at all:

"Oh, I see. So, I assume that you three are vampires."

Aruto nodded slowly. Yuuki looked at him more closely and asked:

"And forgive me I don't know all the pureblood families but if I am not mistaken you are one of them."

It was logically: he seemed very wealthy, his aura was powerful and mysterious and the other two looked like they respected him greatly.

"Indded, I am."

"Well, I am honoured by your invitation… should I call you Lord Aruto?"

"It won't be necessary you can simply call me Aruto, after all for humans we are at the same level." He replied.

"You should call me Yuuki then and not Miss Cross anymore."

When he said that she could call him simply by his name, she saw Kiseki tense and Arisa frown but Aruto acted as if he did not notice.

"I assume the reason I am here is because you want to have information about Lord Kaname or Cross Academy." she asked.

"If I were my father I would probably ask you those sort of questions but as I am not, I'm just genuinely interested in knowing you, you have a charismatic aura I can tell and it intrigues me."

It was the first time that somebody called her charismatic and she was flattered, it felt good meeting somebody who did not only see a frail little girl in her. They talked for two hours and the other two remained silent most of the time. Only when Yuuki remembered why the name Shiki rang a bell and asked about it Arisa spoke. Now that she looked at her Yuuki saw that Arisa indeed had the same eyes as her cousin Senri Shiki, but her hair was different. Hers was dark black with blueish tips. Yuuki rather enjoyed herself, Aruto seemed very interested in knowing what she thought about the school, the dorm and of course the director. The only time he asked about her life before she got to Shinrinchi was because he wanted to know why she called Kaname Lord since they were friends. Yuuki explained that she felt in debt toward him but did not go into the details. When he wanted to know why she replied that Kaname saved her when she was little. Thankfully, even if he seemed to wish to know more about it, he did not push her further.

It was dark when she got back to the dorm that night. _How different two purebloods can be_ she thought, _Kaname would have never let me walk back alone for such a distance._

She went to her room put her jumper on her bed and suddenly realised that she wanted to talk about this meeting with somebody, with Emily actually. She left her room and went to see her friend, she explained that they were very polite and that Aruto just wanted to meet her. Strangely enough she felt the need to hide the fact that she went to his house and, of course, that they were vampires.

When she finally got back to her room, while she untied her hair and put on her pyjamas, she reflected on what had happen to her. It was a little bit odd that a pureblood would show such an interest in her. For a moment, she thought about texting somebody about it but Kaname would either get her back to Cross Academy by force or eliminate Aruto if he knew, and Zero would freak out that she was around a pureblood again. She did not realise that she had picked up her phone while she was thinking. She had a text, it was from Yori:

 _My dear Yuuki, I hope you are happy in your new school. The room feels a little empty without you. I will keep you informed on Kiriyu's behaviour, don't worry._

Yuuki missed her very much. She wanted to reply but did not know what to say, so she decided to wait till Morning before texting her back. Her friend would be in bed anyway at that time. She fell asleep thinking about her and the events of the day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 6: Campaign part 1

Three weeks had gone by in Shinrinchi High School, the student council campaign was around the corner and students started speculating over who would be the next student president. Logic suggested that the previous president should be re-elected since he was still there and a 12-grade student. In Yuuki's class however, people thought differently.

Yuuki was reading the exam they just got back, she had managed to get 80% of the answers correct and it was way better than what she was used to at Cross Academy, when one of her classmate suggested:

"Hey Yuuki, why don't you run for president? You would be perfect for the job, you're charismatic and you're brave. Besides, it would be nice to have a girl as a leader for once."

Yuuki smiled but did not reply, she was actually considering it, but they had to present a list of ten council members and their role before Friday and she had no idea how to do that. Of course, the former president's list was almost ready.

At lunch, she ate with Emily to talk to her. She confessed that she would enjoy being president and Emily got really excited about it… until Yuuki told her about the list.

"Oh!... Well I guess if you have an unimportant job I can take it but for the rest I don't know."

"I could give you the "manager of sports" position since I know you're sporty and I have ideas for the "treasurer", the "manager of events" and the "secretary" but other than that I don't know who my vice-president, for instance, could be." she paused. "I am not sure it would be a good idea after all, I came here to study and keep my grades up, not become a leader."

"You're already a leader Yuuki. Have you seen the way your class treats you?"

It was true that she was overwhelmingly respected and most of her friends looked at her for every decision. The afternoon class was maths, so she had to concentrate as it was not her best subject, her thoughts and worries left her for a while. When she got back to her room however, she was distracted in her homework by the prospect of running for student council. She had not realised how important it was to her. It would be the accomplishment of her emancipation, a way to show the world that she was powerful after all. She was interrupted by a knock on her dorm room door.

"Mhmm…" she mumbled.

The door opened, and she eventually lifted her head up to see who her guest was. Aruto was standing in the doorframe.

"Good afternoon Aruto, how can I help you?" she asked defensively.

"Hello Yuuki, do you mind if I come in?"

She gestured for him to enter.

"I heard Emily say you were considering running for the council."

"I am but I am not sure yet, why?" Yuuki replied while reporting her attention back to her homework. "Are you here to advise me otherwise? I have to tell you I still don't know how to fill six of the ten positions."

She had tried to put a distant tone in her voice but obviously, with the way he looked Aruto did not buy it. She really wanted this.

"On the contrary, I am here to help."

"How so?"

"I could help you with the remaining positions and we could submit a list."

Now he got her attention, she turned her head back to his direction to check if he was serious or just playing with her, but he appeared determined.

"You have ideas to fill the places of vice-president, 10th, 11th and 12th grade representatives, communication manager and manager of discipline?" There was hope in Yuuki's voice.

"Not exactly. I believe I could find people for the first four and I'm sure we could manage for the remaining two."

This was a good start but something hit Yuuki's mind.

"Just how many vampires do you plan in putting in my council?" she said.

Aruto smiled at her clever question: "Three out of the four I'm talking about."

"And you would be among them?"

"Well I was thinking you would accept me as vice-president…"

"But if I do that what guarantee do I have that vampires will listen to me and you won't overrule me? You're a pureblood they respect you more than a weak human."

"Not if I respect you and listen to your orders." he explained before adding "And you're not weak Yuuki, you should trust yourself more."

"Ok let's get to work then."

"That means you agree?"

She got up and went to her bed so that they could both sit next to each other. She looked at him and her eyes said: _impress me and I will decide_. He followed her and they started planning.

"So what do you suggest." Yuuki began.

"Myself for vice-president, Arisa for 12th grade rep, Ken, a human, for 10th grade rep and Ryusei, a vampire form 11-C, as 11th grade rep."

"What about Kiseki? Could he be the communication manager? And what is his first name by the way?" she asked.

"I thought you didn't want too many vampires. But yes, I guess if we asked Sosuke Kiseki would oblige. Who were you thinking about for the others?"

"Emily as manager of sports, Mayumi, a girl from my class, as treasurer, Yamato Rei in 10-B would be great for secretary and Rento-sempai for manager of events. We just have to find another. By the way isn't Arisa in the other list?"

"There might be one: Hiroto, the director's son. She is but she will leave this idiot if we ask her."

"Well, the only thing left to do is ask them."

"So you accept me as vice-president." he inquired playfully.

"If you're willing to do my dirty work then yes. Fetch me my hairbrush vice-president." she teased him.

He obeyed and they chatted a little before she went to sleep.

The next morning, they asked all their candidates. They agreed even though Ryusei wasn't exactly excited. The one who was furious was the former president, not only was his victory compromised but one of his members abandoned him.

The following night, Aruto came back to Yuuki's room to write the list that was due by morning. They were on her bed again and she asked him:

"There is something I want to understand: you're a pureblood you could rule this school if you wanted why choose to follow me?"

"I trust you to be a better leader than I would be and besides why do the hard work when I can enjoy almost as much honor with half the responsibilities?"

He was teasing her of course and that made her smile.

* * *

 **It would be awesome if you guys could leave a review so that i know what needs to be improved or if you like the story. Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 7: Campaign part 2

The elections were scheduled for the following Thursday and a debate was put in place on Wednesday. Aruto offered to prepare it with her, but Yuuki declined, it was her moment and she would have nobody interfere in it.

During the weekend, Yuuki remembered to call her father as she promised. He answered right away:

"Isn't it my beautiful daughter who calls her daddy?"

"Hello Dad, how are you?"

"I am very good, how about you? Is school fine?"

"It is. I manage to have 80% correct in the last history exam."

"Wonderful. And besides that? Do you enjoy yourself there?"

"I do, very much. How is everybody? Zero? Kaname?"

"Zero is his usual self and Kaname… well, Kaname is still mad at me for letting you go. He's out today, family business."

"Isn't he the last member of his family?"

"It has to do with that in a way."

"Ok."

They talked about random subjects for twenty more minutes. Yuuki felt weird when she hung up, she had not told him about the election and she did not intend to, she was certain he would not like it.

Aruto came to her room that evening, it was becoming kind of a habit for them. She told him that she felt a little bit guilty for not telling her Dad about her projects.

"Why don't you want to tell him?"

"He wouldn't like it, he wouldn't think I'm fit for this and moreover, he would tell Kaname."

"Why would anyone think you unfit to be president?"

"They don't know me as people here know me…"

"What do you mean?"

"When I was at home, I was always smiling or rather faking a smile. I acted as though the secrets they kept from me and their attitude toward me didn't affect me." she sighed "But it did. I hated the way they looked at me, as if I was a poor defenceless child who do not understand. I understood, I saw the way Zero struggled with his transition, I saw the secrets and calculus behind my father's carelessness and more than anything, I saw Kaname's sadness when he looked at me. This is why I left, because loving them and being near them hurts."

Aruto remained silent before saying:

"What exactly is your relationship with Kaname Kuran?"

"I told you, Lord Kaname saved me."

He rose an eyebrow.

"From a vampire when I was approximately five. It is my first memory, blood on the snow. I don't remember anything prior to this night. I don't even know who my parents are, my family, if they're dead or how they died."

"I'm sorry I made you tell" he apologized while gathering her in his arms.

"It's alright. Please just don't pity me."

She pulled away from him. They got back to work but when he left he said:

"Good night Lady Yuuki. I shall call you that when you are president."

The day of the debate arrived. Yuuki was ready. Not that it would have made any different as her opponent wasn't very good at the exercise, he had no rival the previous year and it was obvious. His only arguments were his age, his wealth and that was about it. Yuuki on the other hand was most graceful and charismatic. She talked about substantial projects for the school in a variety of fields: from the creation of a garden committee to the organisation of a winter ball or a new system to help the employees in the kitchen. In the end, there was no wonder she won the debate. To celebrate, the ten members of her council went to town to eat ice cream, her favourite dessert. Yuuki was still nervous about the election but it now seemed within her reach.

The following day, the morning classes were cancelled in order to vote and determine the winner. Yuuki was tensed, Aruto next to her offered her his hand to squeeze but she declined, she was strong, she knew it.

At 12 o'clock Mrs Gibeki came to announce the results of the vote. Behind her were the eleven emerald green capes of the next student council. The former president looked rather confident and Yuuki as usual did not show any emotion. Mrs Gibeki picked up the microphone and started her speech:

"Dear students of the Shinrinchi High School, welcome. We're gathered here to elect a new student council for this schoolyear. This year we only had two teams competing. Without further ado, let's announce the winner: with 54% of the votes, your new student president is… Miss Yuuki Cross! Congratulations to you and your team! I would also like to congratulate and thank our previous president, please give him a round of applause."

Yuuki was ecstatic, but in the same time, she could not help but think that the directress managed this event as if it was a sport competition. She now had to do an acceptance speech in which she thanked the students for their trust and presented again the member of her council. Then there was the cape ceremony, Mrs Gibeki and ten other members of the administration put the capes on their shoulders. It went down to their mid-stomach and was maintained in place, on the front, by a piece of fabric with a golden button on which was the symbol of there school, a tree. It was also outlined in black.

In the afternoon, everybody in Yuuki's class congratulated her. She finally went back to her room at four and started her homework, after all, she still had to keep her grades up. It had only been one hour since she began when someone knocked on the door, she thought it was Emily but when the door opened, Aruto was behind it. He took a step forward, bowed deeply and said:

"Good afternoon Lady Yuuki."

Yuuki smiled at him. They talked a lot, both of them were very happy about the results. At one moment in the evening, Aruto picked up Yuuki's brush and started combing her hair and playing with it. It was very soothing for her, she enjoyed it no matter how awkward the situation might seem. When he finally decided to go back home, she waved him good bye:

"Good night, Mr Vice-President."

"Good night, Lady Yuuki."

* * *

 **Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**As usual, I don't own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 8: Miss President

The first few days of council went without problems the only annoying thing they had to discuss was about a student who disrespected the gardener. They punished him by making him empty all the outdoor bins. Other than that, Yuuki spent a lot of time with Emily, drinking tea and chatting as they did before. She also discovered that Arisa was kind of a genius and she asked her to help her in her studies which enabled her to keep her grades up contrary to what she feared. Aruto came to her room almost every evening, it had become sort of their thing. Yuuki liked the pureblood, he was not to self-confident or arrogant as some of the vampires in the night class were. Often, he took her brush and combed through her hair. It was growing really fast, it was already down to her chest and her bangs were starting to disappear. When she told Aruto so, he replied:

"I might be guilty on this one."

"What do you mean?" Yuuki said.

"There is a power running in my family, we are able to control… hair. I think I might have given a boost to yours by brushing it every day. But I can also style them in any way just with a snap of my fingers. Do you want to see?" he proposed.

Yuuki nodded. He ran his fingers through her hair and almost instantly it was styled in a complicated updo with braids coming from everywhere. It was gorgeous.

"That is a handy gift." she said admiring the work.

"The women use it to style their hair but never in public, my family is a little ashamed to have such a useless and superficial power."

"I think it's cool."

She remained silent for a few minutes before asking:

"I was wondering Aruto, how many vampires are there in this school?"

"Around one hundred, why?"

"But that's a fourth of the students, even in the night class they are less than that. Is there any specific rule about them?"

"None they just have to respect the basic vampire laws."

"That means they can bite people and use their powers as long as they erase their memories afterwards and don't kill anybody?"

"Basically."

"It is not acceptable! Call for a meeting of the vampire members of the council tomorrow at 11 p.m."

"Sure, Lady Yuuki."

He bowed and exited the room.

The following day, after class, Yuuki went to her new President office. She liked this place a lot, it was peaceful, quiet and yet a little mysterious, just like her. It was a big room with a small dark wooden table surrounded by two dark green and two lighter embroidered armchairs. In the back was a dark wooden desk with a comfortable chair. That's where Yuuki was sitting doing her homework and waiting for the meeting. From her window she saw Sosuke Kiseki training alone with what looked like a practice sword. He looked graceful and fierce and it gave Yuuki an idea.

At 11, they all came: Arisa, Ryusei, Sosuke and Hiroto entered her office. Aruto had arrived half an hour before.

"I assume you know what this meeting is all about." Yuuki started, not losing time. "There are no specific rules for vampires here and I think it should change. Does any one of you have something to suggest."

They sat in the sofas and the proposition started:

"We should forbid vampires to drink from humans during school time." Arisa said.

"I agree but we must then ensure that they always have bleed tablets with them. That would be possible, but we'd have to tell Mayumi about vampires and such an order would not be invisible to the Senate eyes." Yuuki replied.

"I was thinking we should tell the rest of the council about the vampire existence anyway." Aruto intervened.

The others nodded as one. Only Yuuki seemed sceptic.

"Are you sure guys? Wouldn't it be to hard to bear for them?"

"I thought you trusted every one of us." Ryusei laughed.

"It is not about trust." Yuuki sighed "It is just that it is not an easy secret, I don't think they would tell other students or their families, but they could be scared."

"Of course, they'll be. But they need to know, and I don't believe they would reject us, we are a team." Arisa said.

"What do you think Hiroto, Sosuke?" Yuuki asked the two who did not talk until now.

"I think Lord Aruto is right and I believe my father would back this decision." Hiroto replied.

"What about display of powers?" Sosuke asked.

"Forbidden unless there is imminent danger for the school or its students." Yuuki and Aruto said as one.

They discussed a few less important points for another hour. In the end, Sosuke wrote their decisions and Yuuki and Aruto signed it.

"I want two copies for each vampire student, one they'll keep and the other they'll sign and give me back." Yuuki said.

"Of course, Lady Yuuki."

They left one by one but Yuuki stopped Sosuke. Aruto remained too. She asked her communication manager if he would agree to teach her how to use a sword, the quiet boy agreed and exited the room. Aruto was the last one. He raised an interrogative eyebrow but said nothing and bowed.

"Good night, Lady Yuuki."

She had only been alone for five minutes and was thinking of going to bed when somebody knocked on her office door.

"Enter." she sighed.

"Good evening Miss Cross." Mr Mori said. "I was hoping I could discuss a few things with you tonight."

"Of course." Yuuki said and motioned for him to sit the sofas. "What is it?"

"Actually, I have two things to tell you: first I had this made for you." He showed her a golden necklace with a pendant depicting a tree, the symbol of the school. "Since you're our first female president, I thought it was an appropriate congratulation gift."

"Thank you very much director." She put the necklace on and smiled. "What was the other thing?"

"It might seem a little bit odd, but something happened a few weeks ago, I thought you might want to know."

She raised an interrogating eyebrow.

"They found the Kuran couple alive. Juuri and Haruka, Kaname's parents."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 9: Secrets

"What do you mean the Kurans were found alive? I thought Kaname's parents committed suicide." Yuuki asked hesitantly.

"Apparently they didn't. From what I heard they were just in a deep slumber for the last 10 years, but nobody said anything about why they were in that state. And even if they did, I am not important enough to be notified when something like that happens. I am only aware of that event because I went to greet Lord Isaya and he was heading to Cross Academy to meet with them." the director explained.

"I assume that was what my father meant when he said Kaname was dealing with family business. I hate it when they keep secrets from me. Thank you for telling me director, I appreciate that."

"You're welcome Miss President. If you want more information maybe Lord Aruto could help, he will probably know more than me."

The director left her. Her need to go to sleep had vanished with the news. She was now very awake and since it was already Saturday there was no school in the morning. She needed to do something, anything, she looked at her phone and decided that she was going to call Kaname. In one hand, she wanted to know how he felt after such an important event and in the other hand she also wanted, deep down, to show him that she was resourceful and could find out things on her own. She pick up her phone and called him. At first, she thought he would not answer but after fives rings he took the call.

"Yuuki what's wrong?"

"Why do you always assume that I'm in some kind of trouble Lord Kaname?"

"That means your safe?"

"Of course I'm safe, I'm at school, not in a war zone." Yuuki was beginning to get sassy.

"Ok… to what do I owe the pleasure of you calling me then?"

"Do I really need an excuse to call you, sempai?

"No you don't my dear. But calling me in the middle of the night for nothing is worrying."

"Well actually I have a reason."

"What is it then?" he asked.

"I heard that your parents were alive and that you reunited with them." she explained "I wanted to see how you were."

"How do you know that?"

"My secret…"

"Yuuki don't play with me, how do you know that?"

"I won't tell you."

"I'm serious." he was getting angry.

"I am too. See, I can have secrets as well…"

Kaname sighed:

"One way or another I'll find out in the end."

"You can try." Yuuki replied calmly.

"But to answer your question I'm fine, really happy even, I missed them very much though I didn't realise it."

"I'm happy for you. But if I may, what happened? I thought it was a suicide."

"It was more of an attack and they were so badly wounded that they needed ten years to get better."

"I see." she wanted to know more but knew he would never answer.

"I have to go Yuuki, we have a lot of people coming to the Academy to see them, and I'm busy."

"Alright, I'll see you in two weeks for the holidays I guess."

"Yes, we will be staying here since they're still a little weak."

"Good night Lord Kaname."

"Good night my dear. And Yuuki?" he paused "I hate it when you hide things from me."

"Me too, Kaname, me too." she exited the call.

Now she was exhausted and clearly needed twelve hours of sleep. She went to bed.

At around five in the afternoon, on Saturday, she went to Aruto's house without warning him. A servant opened, and she asked him to tell his young master she needed to talk to him. She waited in the entrance, he ran down the stairs three minutes later.

"Want to go somewhere?" he asked happily, clearly not wanting to stay inside.

"Where?"

"We could go shopping." he winked at her.

"Ok…" she agreed a bit startled "But I don't have a lot of money."

"That's not a problem."

And just like this they were gone. They went to the shopping centre. Aruto bought himself a pale blue shirt and Yuuki got navy blue high-rise pants with a white off-the-shoulder top. They both looked very elegant. They were about to get out, but Aruto stopped and took out a purple dress with golden butterflies. It had a deep V-neck but was still appropriate and was tied close on the side with a black ribbon.

"Try it on." he told her.

She did, and they were both pleased with the results. She was still elegant but in another way, more vulnerable, less bossy.

"You'll have to consider it my congratulation present."

"You're not serious. What you did to my hair is present enough for me."

"I insist." he murmured in her ear.

Once outside, they sat at a terrace to drink tea and chat.

"So, you said you "needed" to see me." he said, and she could hear the air quotes.

"The director came to see me last night… to tell me that Kaname's parents were alive. Do you know anything?" she asked.

"You knew it before me, I was reading a report on this my father sent me just when you arrived at my house. It seems they were attacked by their older brother, Rido Kuran, a mad man, ten years ago. But they were not killed, just wounded apparently and they managed to go to a hidden tomb where they regenerated until now. I assume nobody was sure whether they were going to wake up one day or not and that's why the truth was hidden. But what the director probably don't know about yet is that they weren't alone in there. Their father has also awoken. He was the last king and apparently remained sleeping for the last thousand years. I feel that this is a recipe for a lot of fun."

Yuuki was reflecting. She stayed silent eating her ice cream for long minutes. Finally, she looked at him.

"Thank you. If you know anything else, please tell me."

"Yes, Milady."

"Should we get going?"

They paid and headed back to the school.

"Do you intend to do anything?" Aruto asked.

"We'll see. For now, what we need to focus on is revealing to the council that vampires are real."

And they did exactly that during their meeting at lunch on the next Monday.

"I would like everybody's attention please, there is something important we have to talk about." Yuuki started and all listened respectfully. "Mayumi, Yamato, Rento, Emily, Ken, you should know that… how do I put it ?... hum…"

"We are vampires and so is a fourth of this school." Sosuke said.

"Very tactful, thank you" Yuuki and Aruto mumbled at the same time.

"What?" Mayumi was lost. So Sosuke just showed them all his fangs and glowing red eyes.

"Even better." Yuuki was starting to get pissed.

Thankfully Arisa was there.

"But we won't do you any wrong, we're your friends, your partners. We are just a little… different."

Emily was shocked:

"But Yuuki? How did I not know?"

"I'm human" Yuuki reassured her "But the other five are not."

They all looked down to their feet for a while, not knowing what to say.

"I think we all need time to process the news." Rento, the eldest, finally said.

"You're right" Yuuki replied "This meeting is adjourned."

When she left the office Emily asked:

"Yuuki, tea in my room after class?"

"Sure."

* * *

 **Please leave a comment, I need your advices and impressions on this story to go on!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 10: Daily routine

The council apparently did not take the news of the vampire existence too bad. They were frightened of course but Yuuki did not seem scared and besides, none of their vampire friends ever did something weird. Yuuki and Emily were discussing this matter in Emily's room.

"So, tell me, how long have you known for vampires?"

"My whole life. I have no memory of my childhood before the age of five and my first memory is the attack of a vampire. I was rescued by another vampire."

"Who is he?"

"Kaname Kuran. He is a student of the Night Class at my father's academy."

"Wait. This Night Class…"

"They're all vampires."

"Oh… And I wanted to ask. Aruto he's special, isn't he?"

"He's a pureblood. He has no human blood at all, there are very few like him and they are treated as royalty." Yuuki replied reluctantly.

"And you like him, right?"

"Trust me, I did the mistake of getting to close to a pureblood before I won't do it again."

"Excuse me, but your recent shopping trip looks like a date to me." Emily giggled.

"No, it was not like that."

Her friend gave her an amused look.

"What do you mean you already did the mistake?"

"Lord Kaname is a pureblood."

"I see. Why do you call him a lord and not Aruto?"

"Because he told me not to and I also feel more comfortable around him than around Kaname." she mumbled. "You ask a lot of questions today."

Emily squeezed her arm and decided to talk about her plans for the holidays which took her the rest of their tea time.

In the following days, Aruto came to Yuuki's room every evening and some mornings to style her hair. He appeared to like the task a lot and Yuuki's hair had never been so gorgeous. He often did complicated braided updos that made her look powerful. They talked a lot, not only about their duties but also about their lives in general. She knew that the Kuran and Toma families were not exactly allies and that Kaname would strongly disapprove of their friendship. Yet, she could not deny that she liked the young pureblood, he was way more accessible than any other vampire and he trusted her. He trusted her even when she failed like she just had: they had had their first incident with a vampire since the publication of their new rules. One of the students had biten a girl on school ground. Yuuki, Aruto and Hiroto gathered with the culprit and at Yuuki's impulse they decided on a light punishment of two days suspension. The student anyway was very upset that he was not allowed to do what he wanted. So, as a revenge, he attacked the same human girl and the poor student ended up in the hospital unconscious. The offender was excluded of course, but Yuuki felt guilty toward the girl. That's what she told Aruto when he came to her office after the event and she told him of the outcome. His help was precious then, he reassured his president and cheered her up. That was when Yuuki realised she could trust him, that he was not like Kaname and would never try to keep things away from her whether it was secrets, responsibilities or painful facts, he just offered a helpful hand when needed.

Holidays were just three days away. Everybody was excited, even Yuuki who usual looked focused was a little bit ecstatic during her practice with Sosuke. They had started to train two weeks before and even if she already knew how to use Artemis, she was not very good with a sword. She was a quick learner when it came to sport however and her teacher did not spare her any bruises. They practiced every two days and now at least, Yuuki did not cut herself every three minutes. He was currently showing her what she could do alone at home to train. She needed sport to survive those ten days at home. She was both happy and tensed at the prospect of seeing everybody again, moreover as school at Shinrinchi stopped one day before Cross she would get a chance to meet her former classmates. She wanted to see Yori but not necessarily the others. Anyway, she still had one math test before Friday and needed to study. That's what she did after a quick shower. When she stopped studying, not exactly sure how the test was going to go, she called her father.

"Hello Dad."

"My sweet daughter! I'm looking forward to have you here for ten full days."

"I'm looking forward to go home." she replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really Dad, I miss you."

"Me too." Now he was crying, not for long at least. "By the way Yuuki, Kaname will be staying at our house during the holidays, it's a bit complicated but all you need to know is that he found his parents and they'll be here to. Isn't it wonderful?"

God, his habit of keep things from her was annoying.

"Humm…" she replied, "I have to go Dad I have a test tomorrow, bye."

She did not wait for his replied. She was really upset, not only he did not tell her such an important news for two weeks, but he also did not tell her all the story. She was still angry when Aruto found her in her office at nine o'clock.

"I knocked, you did not hear?"

"No, I'm sorry." she looked at him, his face was graver than usual.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"My Dad just told me that the Kurans are alive. Can you believe it? For two weeks he kept it hidden from me."

"Is it a surprise?"

"No, and that's probably the worst. What about you? You look a bit weird."

"Actually, I have a proposition for you."

"I'm listening." she said, puzzled, and went to the sofa.

"You know I hate being alone with the servants in my mansion," he started, "that's why I stay so late at school, and also, my parents hate this house, it's "too small" for them, so they never come. So, I was wondering if you'd consider moving in with me."

Now Yuuki was shocked.

"I know it's weird, but you're kind of my best friend… wow that's such a human thing to say… and we're always together and clearly it would be more comfortable than the dorms. We could even ask the director to transfer you the money for the room without telling your father."

"My father would probably faint if he knew that." Yuuki giggled. "Well, I don't know what to say, I need time to consider it."

"Of course. You can tell me after the holidays."

He came closer ran his hand through her hair and left the room after wishing her good night. When she looked at herself in the mirror there were lilac flowers in her hair, her favourite. She smiled.

One last test later, she was in holidays. Before getting in the car that was going to take her home, she looked one last time at the dorm, thinking about Aruto's propostion.


	11. Chapter 11

**I don't own Vampire Knight**

* * *

Chapter 11: Pleasure to meet you

After a one-hour drive, Yuuki arrived at Cross Academy. She was wearing her uniform, but the cape was in her suitcase to avoid any question and her hair was down, no complicated updos here, it was already weird enough that it fell right under her chest. She was also wearing flats and no makeup. She had decided to go back to the old Yuuki for the ten days. She did not want to worry her family and she did not want them meddling in her stuff.

When she got out of the car, her Dad came running to her. She of course avoided his hug and took her suitcase out of the trunk.

"Hello Dad." she said. "How are you?"

"I'm good and you? You look gloomy."

"I'm fine." She quickly gave him a big smile. She truly had to remember to keep smiling as she used to.

Zero joined them, gave Yuuki a quick pat on the back and took her suitcase to carry it inside. They followed him into the house. Kaname was standing in the doorway of the living room. When he saw her in the hallway he moved closer and took her in his arms. She did not hug him back and her smile faded. He broke the embrace and lifted her head so that she faced him. She smiled again and said:

"It's nice to see you Lord Kaname."

"I missed you Yuuki."

"I know." she smiled and went to the living room.

There three persons were sitting in the armchairs. First, a woman with curly brown hair, almost the same shade as Yuuki's, her back was facing the door so Yuuki could not see her face. On the left closest to the woman, was a man with very dark brown hair, like Kaname's but much shorter, and the exact same eyes as Yuuki. Finally, an older looking man was sipping tea. He had the same hair colour as the woman and wore it short with a mustache. The first two were Juri and Haruka for sure. And the last one was probably their father, the last Kuran king. He was the first to speak:

"You must be Yuuki, my name is Hayato Kuran, I am Juri and Haruka's father," he pointed to his children who had gotten up, Juri was now holding her husband's hand, "I believe you have not been told that I was here as well. I am sorry for the inconvenience."

"It's alright don't worry." Yuuki tried her best to appear cheerful and smiling "I am very happy that you're all alive and I hope you'll enjoy your stay at our house. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Of course, she already knew about him but did not say it. She was uneased by the appearance of Lady Juri, she looked so familiar. She smiled again, bowed and took her suitcase to carry it to her room. She closed the door and started unpacking, at least, no fake happiness was needed in this room. She heard the door opening behind her.

"I'm sorry we did not tell you about Grandfather." Kaname said.

"I said it's alright. I knew it anyway."

"What? How?"

"Lord Kaname, we've already discussed it, I am not telling you." She sighed, put her smile back on and turned around. "Now, how has been this period here?"

"Lonely." he mumbled.

"Lord Kaname are you pouting?"

"You don't want to tell me, it upsets me."

"I have the right to have secrets too you know. And besides, you can't force me to tell you."

"I could."

"You wouldn't!"

"No, I wouldn't, not yet. We'll be discussing downstairs if you want to come, my family was quite excited to meet you."

"I'll get changed and follow you after." she replied.

She took off her shirt… when the door opened again and Zero entered.

"You used to wear tank tops over your bra." he said.

"I was going to say that you used to knock on the door but that's a lie." she commented.

He closed the door and crossed the space between them before taking her in his arms.

"God, I missed you." he whispered.

He moved his head toward her neck, but she stopped him.

"Are you mad? I mean, I know you're probably starving right now, but do you want the entire Kuran Family to know you're drinking from me, they're just downstairs."

"It would be the same if they were in the moon dorm. That never stopped you before." he said. His eyes were begging her. She sighed.

"Fine, but not my neck it is too visible. Forearm is better."

He bit her. It hurt at first, but she was used to it. What she was less used to however was the feeling of dizziness that came, he was taking to much.

"Zero... stop, please." she asked.

He got up and wiped away the blood from his face before handing her a towel and wrapping her wound in bandages.

"I should probably disappear for a few hours." he told her.

"You should." She agreed.

She took a light purple jumper, put it over her bare chest and found a black skirt to go with it. Then she headed down to the living room, battling the feeling of weakness for a second. She stepped inside the room to find the Kuran couple in a sofa, their father and hers in armchairs and Kaname looking out through the window. She chose to sit in the other sofa. Haruka was the first to speak:

"So, Yuuki, tell us about your new school. How is it?"

"It's refreshing, I've been able to rest and bring my grades back up. I'm very pleased."

"Tell us about your friends." Haruka continued.

She told them mostly about Emily and Mayumi and avoided all the vampires. They continued chatting about her school for a little while until Kaname asked in a gloomy tone:

"Are there any vampire?"

"Maybe a few but how would I know I can't sense them like you." she replied carefully.

It froze the discussion, everybody could see that Kaname wasn't at peace with the situation and it was awkward. Finally, Kaien decided to serve the dinner so they all took place around the table and started eating the huge feast he prepared. Hayato who had remained silent all the time eventually said:

"Did you cut yourself Yuuki?"

"I do it all the time, I am so clumsy." she voiced her lie challenging him with her eyes. In the end, he did not push further.

At last, it was time for her to go to bed. When she changed into her pyjamas, she realised that she was already missing Aruto, Emily, Arisa and Sosuke. The holidays promised to be long.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire knight.**

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Chapter 12: Bad dreams

Yuuki had a rough night, she had several nightmares and woke up early in the morning sweating. This never happened to her when she was at Shinrinchi. It was still 6 in the morning, nobody was up. Therefore, she decided to go training. She put on a sports bra and some leggings and went to the horse riding area. She felt good with her sword in the field. She swung her sword a few times trying to apply Sosuke's advices. She closed her eyes to better feel the sensations. That's why she didn't see Haruka Kuran approach. He stopped a few meters away from her and watched her silently. She was not exactly graceful but still stronger than she primarily looked. Eventually, she opened her eyes and saw him. She paused and bowed in his direction.

"You're up early." he stated.

"I couldn't sleep." she simply replied.

"Why's that?"

"Nightmares."

"Do you have them often?"

"Only when I'm here."

"Aren't you happy here?"

"I am, but I'm missing something…" she paused "I'd better go and take a shower."

She headed back to the house, Lord Kuran was still watching her. After her shower, she hesitated on her outfit for the day. She looked at the dress Aruto gave her, but it was too far of what she usually wore at home. She finally chose a beige top with blue pants. She let her hair down, she missed having Aruto play with it. She gathered her courage and went to the kitchen to get her breakfast. Zero was there. He mumbled something that sounded like a good morning but Yuuki wasn't sure. They sat together at the kitchen table and ate their breakfast in silence. The situation would have been awkward if they didn't know each other so well, almost like siblings. They then did the dishes together, silently, as they always had. Zero finished right before Yuuki and stood behind her while she took care of the last plate. She turned around when she was done and Zero took her in his arms. She hugged him back. It was strange her way of behaving around Zero was so casual, so easy, it was as if he knew the real her and did not care.

 _Of course he knows the real me,_ she thought, _he's been drinking my blood for over a year now. Wait, does he know about Aruto?_

She started panicking, broke the hug and stared at his face.

 _No, he doesn't know, he wouldn't act like this if he did, I just have to be careful._

She smiled at Zero and asked him what he intended to do this morning.

"Go to class." he said, took his jacket and left.

Yuuki had forgotten about that, that meant she could see Yori at lunch. This fact brightened her mood. She occupied her morning by starting to do her homework. It wasn't easy without the help of Arisa, but she had improved her skills during this period so it was not as tricky as it used to be. None of the purebloods seemed to be awake, she was a little bit bored, so she decided to call Emily, she needed to talk about Aruto's proposition with somebody. She hoped that her friend would be awake. She was indeed:

"Yuuki, how are you? Your family is not too annoying, I hope. Why do you call? Do you miss me? I miss you guys, I almost want to do a meeting right now. Sorry, go ahead, I talk too much."

"I'm fine don't worry. And yes, I miss you guys too. But I'm not calling about that."

"What? You finally want to talk about your date at the shopping mall with Aruto!"

"I told you it was not a date! And about what you asked: not exactly but almost."

"Almost, what do you mean?"

"He asked me to come live with him."

"Wait, what?!"

"He feels lonely in his big house, his parents never come to this residence, so he asked me to move in."

"Move in his house or his bedroom?"

"His house, you pervert."

"Ok, ok." she giggled.

"What should I do?"

"Do it, you guys are always together anyway."

"Yeah that's what I was thinking but it would be hard to hide that from my family…"

"We'll help you with the director, I'm sure he'll have an idea. Don't worry and go for it Yuuki. Besides, it'll be easier for you to plan dates if you live together." Emily teased her and Yuuki could almost see her friend wink.

"It was not a date!" she shouted and then said good bye.

"You had a date?" a voice asked.

Yuuki got up quickly.

"Lady Juri, I hope I didn't wake you up."

"No, I was awake don't worry, I just heard you say good bye on the phone."

"To answer your question, no, I didn't, I just went to a friend's house to work on a project and Emily thinks it was more than that."

"I see, your friend seems fun."

"She is and very talkative too." Yuuki smiled. "Hang on, it's noon, I have to go and see Yori."

"Have fun." Lady Juri replied.

Yuuki put on a jacket and ran to the school area. She was a little bit early, so she decided to go directly to the classroom of the 11th grade. She waited in front of the door for the lesson to end. Finally, the doors opened, and a crowd of students came out. When she saw Yori, she ran to her arms and hugged her. Her friend was surprised at first and then remembered that Yuuki was supposed to be here. They headed to Yori's room together. The young girl had decided to have a room alone this year since she did not want to share it with anybody other than Yuuki. The two teenagers caught up on what happened in their respective schools. Yori was delighted to hear that Yuuki was way happier at Shinrinchi and surprised that her friend had become the student president. She promised to keep that fact a secret and explained to Yuuki, how class had been without her and more specifically, how Zero managed. He seemed fine at first glance, but Yori knew him enough to see that he was upset most of the time, but she did not know why. Eventually, it was time for her to leave. Yuuki accompanied her to her car and greeted her father. This man always appeared cold to her, it might have been his job as a politician that made him like that.

When she got back to her house, she was in a better mood and ready for the holidays to come.

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 **Please give me your thoughts about this story!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 13: Holidays

During these holidays, Yuuki occupied her days between homework and polite chatting with the Kurans. She trained with her sword every morning before everybody was awake. She missed her friends terribly. So much so that the day after a fight with Kaname about her school, she decided to wear Aruto's dress and her high heels. She was preparing herself when a bat hit her window, she opened, and the animal came inside her room. She tried to chase it, but it went behind her hair and she felt in do something with her hair. She looked at herself in a mirror, she saw that her hair was now styled in a half bun. She turned to the bat.

"Aruto?!" she whispered.

 _Yeah, I felt like you were a bit down, so I sent one of my projections to you,_ she heard inside her head.

 _Wait, you can talk to me in my head? Since when can you do that?_ she thought.

 _Since always, but only if one of my projections is near you. Every pureblood can do that, you didn't know?_

 _No, I did not know. You know how my pureblood "friends" are._ she thought ironically.

 _If you want, I sent Sosuke and Arisa to your town. You can spend the afternoon with them if you feel a little down. I'm sorry I couldn't come because the Kurans would have felt my presence._ he apologized.

 _Tell them I'll go. You're very nice._ she thanked him and opened the window for him to go away.

She went downstairs to take her breakfast. Only Zero was there and when he saw her outfit, he opened wide his eyes in surprise. She smiled at him and took her breakfast silently. Around noon, her father and the Kurans woke up and all of them but Hayato had the same reaction as Zero when they saw her. She told her father that she intended to go out this afternoon. As expected, Kaname reacted:

"Who are you meeting?" he asked.

"My friends." she said, preparing herself for the confrontation.

"What are their names?"

"Sosuke and Arisa." she didn't lie.

"And who are they?" he insisted.

"I told you, they are my friends."

"Kaname, it's enough!" Lord Haruka intervened, "You can't control everything that Yuuki does."

"Thank you!" Yuuki said to Lord Haruka while glaring at his son.

"Do you want me to drive you there?" her father asked.

"No, Dad, I'll walk." she smiled at him.

She left right after lunch and headed to town. She met with Arisa and Sosuke at a fountain. She hugged both her friends and noticed the umbrella Arisa was holding.

"It would have been suspicious if you met your friends at night." Arisa explained as she appeared to have understood Yuuki's silent interrogation. They went to Yuuki's favourite ice cream place to chat. She explained her daily training sessions to Sosuke and told them about Kaname's behaviour:

"I'm sure he doesn't mean to do wrong, Lady Yuuki." Arisa said, "But it's certain that he's overprotective and doesn't trust you."

"I don't know what to think about the Kurans however." Yuuki stated, "They're friendly but not very expressive and they always seem sad except for Lord Hayato."

"Purebloods usually look like that." Sosuke said, " Well, not all of course, there is our Lord Aruto too, and he's really expressive around us, but I think he's an exception."

"By the way, he told us about what his proposition." Arisa told Yuuki.

"Oh, did he?" Yuuki giggled, "I guess I'll accept."

"You can trust him." Sosuke assured her.

When the sun started to go down, they walked in the streets and discussed student council business.

"It's getting known that our school houses vampires since we put in place rules. We should expect a few attacks and also, the senate might start getting interested in our activities." Sosuke explained.

Both Yuuki and Arisa nodded. It was to be expected.

Around nine in the evening, they separated and Yuuki went home. She had only gone past the portal when she met Zero. Apparently, Kaname and her father had gotten nervous when they did not see her coming back and they had sent Zero to look for her. She reassured them when she got home, explaining them that they had been caught up in their conversation about a school project which was only half a lie. She earned, to her greatest pleasure, a protective hug from Kaname. The seven of them dined and Yuuki invented a history project when Lady Juri asked what her conversation with her friends was about. There was only three days of holidays left. She proposed an evening walk for the next day. Apparently, it only interested the Kuran couple and her father. So, the next day, their little group of four left after dinner to walk and talk for an hour and a half. She discovered that just like her father, Lady Juri loved flowers, they also told her about Kaname's childhood and his chess matches with his father. Lady Juri told her about her high school years long ago and her husband completed what she said. Toward the end of their tour, she staid a little behind with Lord Haruka.

"Yuuki, I can see you're having a hard time trusting Kaname and you're a bit annoyed with his protectiveness, but I want you to know that you can trust my wife and I. Don't hesitate, if you need anything you can ask us." Haruka said.

"Thank you, I appreciate the thought." she said.

They smiled softly and each other and continued walking. In the corner of her eyes, she saw a bat.

 _You look very alike, the two of you together,_ Aruto said in her head.

 _Maybe_ , she replied, _he's nice, I like him._

 _See you on Monday, think about my proposition._

The bat flew away.

The next two days, she spent more time with the Kuran couple. She was preparing her suitcase on Saturday evening when Zero came to her room. He looked sad that she was going to leave.

"Hey Zero, it's alright. I won't be gone long."

"But I miss you." he said. "Please, can I…"

"Do it quickly." she didn't let him finish.

He bit her and drank her blood.

The next morning, she left to go back to her dorm room. _Maybe not for long_ she thought.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: As usual, I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 14: Agreement

When she arrived on Sunday afternoon, the first thing she did after her father left was put her cape and her heels back on and go to her office. There she met Aruto who hugged her as if he'd not seen her for months. She told him what had happened during the holidays, how she was treated by the purebloods and her family. He seemed surprised that she'd let Zero bite her but she explained that their relationship had been like that for a year. She continued talking and soon realised that Aruto looked somehow as if he was pouting.

 _Oh my god, he's jealous_ , she thought.

"No, I'm not!" Aruto shouted.

"Stop reading my mind, it's rude!" she laughed. "And you're jealous, you have a little green demon on you're shoulder. But you know why you can't do that."

"I know, but I don't get why you'd let him take your blood, he's fine with blood tablets now you told me. You know that blood sharing is usually between lovers."

"Yes, but he's like a brother to me." she explained. "Anyway, it's my decision, not yours."

"You're right, Lady Yuuki." he replied before changing the subject. "Did you think about my proposition?"

"I did, but I'd like to talk about it with the director before taking a decision." she said with her face serious again.

"We could go to his office tonight if you want."

"I wanted to talk to him alone, there are other things I want to discuss." she confessed.

"Sure, as you wish Lady Yuuki." Aruto agreed.

The rest of the council arrived one by one, all of them telling the others about their holidays. Emily, in particular, told them everything about a pumpkin fair she went to. They settled on a time to have a meeting the next day. Sosuke then asked Yuuki if she wanted to train, she said yes. They headed to the gym, got changed and picked up their training swords. After a few movements to heat up, they started fighting. Sosuke praised her on her improvements and corrected some details that were wrong. Yuuki got out of this session exhausted, took a shower and, after dinner, went to the director's office. She knocked, and the door opened to reveal the director:

"Miss President, please come in. What brought you here?" the director asked.

"Hello, Mr Mori. There are a few things I wanted to talk with you about."

"Please, have a sit." he offered.

"First of all, Aruto asked me to come live with him and I'm going to accept."

"As expected." the director stated.

"But," Yuuki continued "I'd like to keep my room here and to keep it a secret from my family."

"Of course, no problem." he told her.

"Really?"

"Yes, why not? What else did you need to tell me?"

"Since we designed new rules for vampires here, we're expecting to have a few attacks on the school which we're going to deal with but what's more concerning is that the senate will probably come looking around here." she explained.

"That's annoying, indeed. What do you want to do about it?" he asked her.

"We didn't talk about it yet, but it is going to be in our schedule this week for sure."

"You have my consent to do anything you deem necessary."

"Thank you, director."

Yuuki went back to her room where Aruto was waiting for her.

"So? Are you coming to live with me?" he asked as soon as she got in.

"I just got out of a meeting with the director and it's the only thing you ask?" Yuuki teased him.

"Yeah, I want to know!"

"I can't." she said.

"What?" his happiness melted off his face.

"You idiot, of course, I'm coming."

"You scared me!"

"I know." now she was laughing.

Aruto pulled her off the ground looking genuinely happy.

"If the senate could see their precious pureblood like this, they would probably faint." she giggled. "I was thinking I could move in on Wednesday, we both end classes pretty early."

"Awesome." he replied.

The next day, they announced the news during the council meeting before moving on to a more concerning matter: the likely event of a vampire attack on the school. They decided to put in place rounds of surveillance, in groups of four for every vampire student in the school. Yuuki insisted on the fact that they would have to report directly to her in case of an incident. Sosuke was sent to explain the decision to the vampires and by the evening, Yuuki had on her desk a list of the groups they formed. The system would be put in place the very next day. During the same meeting, they explained to the humans how the vampire senate worked and told them about their fears. But Yuuki did not want to take a decision concerning that matter just now, she preferred to discuss it with Aruto alone first. The issue was that if the senate came and they told him she was president they would probably be annoyed that a pureblood was inferior in rank to a human and most importantly to Yuuki, they would probably tell Kaname or one of the Kurans. But then, if they lied to them, it would undermine her authority on the vampires. Finally, they decided that it was best to tell them the truth and then try to buy their silence using whatever leverage they could. Yuuki was not thrilled about it but it was the best they could think of.

The following night, the vice-president and president stayed up all night with the surveillance group to make sure everything was well in place and the students knew what they had to do. Yuuki couldn't have slept anyway, she was too nervous about moving to the Toma mansion. Aruto seemed very excited even though he kept the expressionless face he showed everybody except Yuuki.

Two days left, she thought.

She could hear a laugh in her head and gave her pureblood friend an accusing look. He gave her a smile of apology that only she saw.


	15. Chapter 15

**I Don't own Vampire knight.**

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Chapter 15: Moving in

The two days before moving to the Toma mansion went by as fast as lightning for Yuuki. Her role as president occupied all of her free time when she was not doing homework with or without Arisa. She went back to see the director to tell him that she moved to Aruto's on Wednesday.

The said day, she found Aruto after their classes and they went together to her room to get what she needed. She left most of her stuff in her room, taking only her clothes, her toiletries and a few pictures. She hesitated a lot before deciding to leave pictures of Kaname and Zero in the dorm room. Aruto had arranged for a servant to pick them up so they would not walk with all her stuff. They rapidly arrived at the mansion, and the driver took her things to the house. They got inside, and all the servants were there to welcome them.

"My parents are never there, so they're mostly loyal to me now and I asked them not to tell my parents or anybody else." He reassured her before presenting them. "Here is Aya, she's our housekeeper, you can ask her if you've any issue with your room, Mina, Nadeshiko and Hagi are under her command. Shinso, the cook, tell him if you need anything to eat. And finally, Yoruno, my butler and sometimes driver, he's my most trusted adviser."

Yuuki, greeted every one of them. Aruto ten took her to her new room which was way bigger than her dorm room or her own bedroom back at her father's house. It was composed of a big desk in front of a window that was almost as tall as the wall, an elegant double bed, a wardrobe; there was also on area for reading with bookshelves and two armchairs and she had her own bathroom. She turned to her friend to thank him, it was more than she could have dreamed of. He then offered to show her his room in case she needed him. Turns out it was the door right across the hallway, facing hers. He opened his door to reveal an even bigger room, richly furnished. They continued their tour of the house, he showed her the living room, the library, the kitchen and the dining room. He insisted on showing her the gardens. With Aya's help he'd arranged a rose garden, but the area he preferred was at the back of the property, there was a part of the forest where tons of wild flowers grew. Yuuki was fond of the rose garden and made up her mind to install a table there to do her homework in this peaceful and odorant piece of heaven.

After this little tour, Aruto told her he had business to attend to and left the place in an explosion of bats. Yuuki continued exploring on her own, she found the servants' quarters, a drawing room and a myriad of other places where she could spend her time. She finally settled in her room and did her homework, she took care of a few papers that required her presidential attention too. Three hours later, she was done, at last. She jumped onto her new bed just to hear one of the servants knock and tell her dinner would be ready in thirty minutes. This gave her just enough time to shower. She got to try the luxurious bathtub. _I could very well picture my life here_ she thought. With her kimono dress on, she went to dinner. In the meantime, Aruto had arrived. They sat together at the huge table, remaining close to one another. The meal was served and Yuuki engaged the conversation.

"So, what were you doing?" she asked.

"My father has been insisting for me to go and see a senate session, so I attended one today." he replied, not bothered at all by the fact she had asked as Kaname could have been.

"How was it?"

"Boring and full of self sufficient old bats." he spitted out. That made Yuuki giggle.

"Speaking of bats, your way of moving seems very convenient, can you take people with you?" she asked innocently.

"I can take vampires but it's not very pleasant if they're not purebloods or have not drank my blood and I can only carry humans I've given blood to." he explained. Yuuki stayed in silence, reflecting. It was as if he could read in her mind because, after a while, he said, "I can give it too you if you want but we can wait, there is no rush."

"I'm not sure for now."

"I know."

They looked into each other's eyes and smiled then finished their dinner. Aruto offered to spend the evening in the library. Yuuki took a better look at this room. On the too side walls, book shelves went from the floor to the ceiling, ladders gave access to the books, in front of the door were several sofas and armchairs, the all room was in pinkish tones, the colour of the family, Aruto explained. Yuuki had noticed that his bedroom was golden and pink too but hers was purple and she wondered if Aruto hat re-decorated a room on purpose. A big piano occupied a corner of the room. When he saw Yuuki get closer to the piano and touch it, Aruto offered to teach her how to play. She nodded. The rest of the evening was very calm, they talked peacefully in the library, he showed her some of his favourite books and she got to learn more about the Toma family:

"During the monarchy, my family remained at a respectable distance from the Kurans, there was no inter-marriages between our families." he started explaining, "We weren't hostile either, we respected their authority but weren't close to the power like the Shoutous or the Hios. That was my grand father's time. It changed when the last Kuran king, Hayato, abdicated. My father is a bit hungry for power, he got pretty close to the new vampire council and today, he controls some senators, not the most powerful but still. He's a funny man my father, he keeps the form of a child while my mother prefers to appear around forty to look wiser. Sometimes I don't know how they stay together but I guess after a few thousand years perspectives change."

They didn't even see the time fly by and when they finally got out of the library it was past midnight. They separated in the hallway and entered their respective bedrooms. Yuuki put on nice pajamas and got into bed. She was on the edge of sleep, but she still fell the door open and Aruto watching her as she fell asleep.

* * *

 **It would really help me continue if you guys reviewed this story!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for reading it.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire knight.**

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Chapter 16: Toma mansion

The following days went pretty normal for Yuuki except now she had a place to call home that was a little bit better than a dorm room. She who had never lived outside of a school now had a whole mansion almost to herself. Aruto stayed with her most of the time when they were not in class whether she was in her office late and got home when it was already dark, or she went straight to the mansion after class because she had no urgent duty. He never complained about the distance which he could cross in no time in his bat form. At home, they took the habit of doing their homework in the rose garden as Yuuki wanted to. Sometimes, a butterfly flew past them or stopped on Yuuki's hand. The insects seemed to fancy the young girl. In the dying light of the sun, she looked gorgeous and she saw Aruto take a few pictures when he thought she didn't look. At dinner that night, she innocently asked:

"Could I see the pictures you took of me, please?"

Aruto almost choke on his soup and became as red as a lobster.

"I'm sorry milady I thought you didn't notice."

"It's okay." she laughed, "I still want to see it though."

He showed her when they went to the library. It had become kind of their ritual, they sat in the sofas, talked or read in silence and every night, he spent a little time teaching her how to play the piano. Sometimes, when he was out on duty for his family or when he just finished classes later than her, he could hear her practice on her own. After just one week, Yuuki had grown so accustomed to him that she could feel his presence in the house when he was here and his absence when he left. There were the nights too, of course. Every evening, just before falling asleep, she felt him step in her room and watch over her.

One evening, when she felt the door open, she forced herself to stay awake. She opened her eyes and sat back up.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up." he apologized.

"I know you watch me every night." she said looking at him softly but without smiling, as usual.

"And I know you know." he replied.

"Why do you do that? Not that I don't like it."

"You look peaceful and beautiful. It calms me down."

"Calm you down?" she asked, confused.

"Ever since I was little I've had nightmares."

"I have them too sometimes, of blood and violence." No word was needed to express the understanding there was between them. Yuuki went on, "Do you want to sleep here?"

"With you?" he asked in shock.

"Do you see anybody else?" she teased him.

"Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't."

"Yeah, I suppose I'd like to."

Yuuki moved to one side of the bed and tapped the other side:

"Come here then." she said as if it was no big deal.

He joined her, hesitated a bit before taking her in his arms. They fell asleep almost instantly, limbs tangled and faces peaceful. There was no nightmare that night. From that evening forward, Aruto slept in Yuuki's room. Other than that, their relationship did not change.

A few times, Yuuki caught herself thinking about what the nobles in the night class would say if they new she was sleeping in the same bed as one of their precious purebloods. She could not know their thoughts, but Emily certainly made hers vocal. She could not stop talking about this, showering Yuuki with questions and teasing her about what she called their "secret-but-not-so-secret" romance. No need to say, it was not long before the vampires in the student council knew about it. They did not say anything until one morning, while she was training with Sosuke, he asked her if she knew what she was doing.

"I do." She said. "I know it isn't exactly the safest move, but I trust him, and I don't care what challenge comes my way, there will be challenges whether we have separate bedrooms or not."

"Alright, we respect you no matter what Lady Yuuki. And you have our support in any situation." he assured her before catching her in a clumsy embrace. "You got better with a sword by the way. You would start to become dangerous for vampires if you could get an anti-vampire blade."

"It's not like I could ask my dad for Christmas." Yuuki sighed.

"I thought he was an ex-hunter."

"Precisely, and he believes I'm clumsy and weak, he wouldn't trust me with any other weapon than Artemis, a… stick." she told him. "I'll try to find something, I have a few contacts at the Hunter Guild actually."

Their training was over. She got home to take a shower and noticed in the bathroom that Aruto had started to move his things to the bathroom as well. That would be a good thing to tease him on during dinner. She got out of the shower only drapped in a towel and started to get dress. She only had her bra and pants when an army of bats erupted in the room and Aruto formed out of them.

"What's wrong with you? Can't you use the door?" she accused him while trying to put on a shirt.

"Just admit it you're super jealous of my powers." he laughed, "And Lady Yuuki, we sleep in the same bed, nobody cares that I see you in your underwear."

"I care and of course, I'm jealous."

"You know you only have to ask if you want to be able to come with me in that form."

"I know." she murmured.

He walked toward the door, still laughing.

"Aruto, speaking about that…" Yuuki said in an almost inaudible voice.

"You want to?"

"I think so."

"Sure?"

Yuuki nodded, determination flowed on her face. Aruto turned around, his face was serious again. When he got to Yuuki, he bit his wrist and gave it to her. She took it, looked at the wound, but did not hesitate for a second before bringing it to her lips. She started sucking the blood that came out of the two puncture points. Aruto took her in his arms, her back against his chest while she drank his pure blood. After a while she stopped, it was way harder for humans to get the blood out of one's body than it was for vampires, so she had only drunk a few millilitres. They went on with their evening as if nothing happened. Only when they were about to get to bed, Yuuki found Aruto's razor in the bathroom, she got back to the bed with it and cut her wrist.

"What are you doing?" Aruto asked.

"It's called sharing blood, not giving blood." she replied quietly.

"Yuuki, I can't, you know that." he tried to hold back as much as he could.

"And if I order you? As long as your fangs don't get in my skin we're fine."

Aruto let his eyes turn glowing red, delicately took Yuuki's arm and started licking her blood. Then, he pressed his lips against the wound and the pain and cut disappeared. He looked up to Yuuki's face and whispered:

"Thank you."

They fell asleep in each other arms again.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 17: Voyage,voyage

Yuuki and Aruto's relationship did not change much outside of the fact they could now travel wherever they wanted together in no time. They still had to attend school however. Yuuki's grades remained around 80% far above her father's limit, so she was clear from danger coming from that side. Their council meetings became more interesting too, after all, they were now well into the schoolyear. Yuuki insisted during one of those meeting that they propose a gardening evening for the youngest students. Most of them turned up to the event, and the council helped them. In three hours, they got rid of the trash that was on the sideways and the lawn of the school. They also cut the trees and they planted a lot of flowers.

Aruto was leading the team that cut trees, Yuuki could hear him give instructions to the younger students:

"Yamato watch out, this branch is fragile."

"You must only cut thirty centimetres."

"Please don't cut yourselves."

He was in his element and Yuuki couldn't help but smile. The students noticed the attitude of their president of course:

"Sempai why are you smiling?"

"For nothing."

Mayumi who had teamed up with Yuuki for the flowers laughed discreetly which got her an annoyed glance from Yuuki. All eleven members of council were put at work: Mayumi, Yuuki, and Sosuke worked on the flowers, Sosuke was not exactly happy about it; Aruto, Yamato, Hiroto, Emily, and Rento were cutting trees; and Arisa, Ken and Ryusei cleaned the school grounds.

When they were done the school was glowing with somewhat of a natural beauty. The success of this action gave the council way for other projects. They discussed their next proposition the next week around a cup of tea with the directress and real director.

"We were thinking of a system to help the kitchen employees. Each week, a different class would be in charge, meaning there would be only two turns in the schoolyear. Each day, a group of four students of the class would help at lunch and dinner." Yuuki explained.

"That's interesting." the directress replied. "Maybe we could talk about it with the representative of the employees. I'm sure they would be delighted by this project."

"It would teach students to work manual jobs and to value the efforts of the employees." Emily said, "We're hoping they would be respected more after that."

"I'll arrange for a meeting next week." Mr Mori proposed.

They had their meeting and were able to put the system in place in less than a month, the first results were encouraging.

At home, Aruto and Yuuki talked about their feeling toward their functions. Yuuki felt really proud of their achievements, she had always wanted to bring change to her community, on her own. Or rather with a team, a group of people who respected and listened to each other.

"We should celebrate." Aruto said.

"What are you thinking about?" Yuuki asked.

"We go to the beach."

He touched her arm, Yuuki felt her body expend somehow, in an instant, she was flying, seeing the world below her move so fast it was blurred. In no time, her body came together again, and she saw the ocean just in front of her, sea water licking her toes. It wasn't the first time they travelled this way, but they had never been this far. The sea was approximately two hours away from their school.

"This is amazing." she finally said.

"What do you want to do now that we're here?"

"Find fresh mango."

"Of course, Lady Yuuki."

They spent their evening on the beach, eating mango, talking and occasionally playing in the water. When they got back home, they were full of sand and salt. They took their showers before going to bed. Aruto was the first to finish washing himself, he was lying in bed and did not notice Yuuki getting closer. She observed him for a moment. He was lying on his tummy with only pyjama pants on. His back was muscular, his blond hair making a halo around his head. He looked like an angel, a blood-drinking angel. She jumped on the bed surprising him. He rolled over and she fell on him, her head finding its place on his chest. She remained silent, no expression was visible on her face but eventually she said:

"Thank you for today, I really enjoyed our trip. Next time let's go to the mountains, shall we?"

He kissed her forehead and they fell asleep like that.

The next day, Yuuki had to call her father. She decided to do so in her office at school.

"Hello Dad." she said when he picked up.

"Hello my beautiful daughter."

"How are you?"

They exchanged banalities for a few minutes before somebody knocked on her door.

"Wait a second Dad." she told him and put the phone against her chest to prevent the sound from getting to him. "Come in."

Ryusei got in and noticed the phone.

"Sorry to interrupt, Lady Yuuki, but the director would like to have a word with you."

"Sure I'll come in a second."

She put the phone back to her ear.

"Yuuki where are you?" her father asked.

"In my room." She lied, "Dad I have to go, I forgot, we have help duty in the kitchen today. I'll call you later."

She hung up, got out of her office, sent a message to tell Aruto to pick her at the director's office rather than hers and headed to the administration wing. She knocked on the director's door. He invited her inside and offered her coffee and cakes.

"Yuuki I had two things to tell you." Mr Mori started, "First, the vampire senate has started to ask questions about our school, to Isaya Shoutou especially and they have summoned me next month, so you were right, and we should expect them to come sneaking around here in the following month. You should make sure to notify your night patrols."

"Okay, I guess we'll manage and I'll warn the vampires don't worry."

"On a brighter side, I found a date for the Winter Ball you wre proposing."

This was good news. For a month, Yuuki had been preparing it with the director. She wanted to surprise the council. Finally, with a set date, she could tell them about it and they could start preparing.

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 **Please leave a review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 18: Preparation

As she had anticipated, the council was thrilled by the prospect of a ball when Yuuki announced them they would be preparing one for three weeks later.

"I can't believe you managed to keep that a secret from me." Aruto said.

"I'm good at hiding things and I wanted to surprise you guys." Yuuki replied.

First things first, they had to advertise the event to the students. Sosuke, their communication manager designed some posters really quickly. "Formal winter ball. Suits and gowns expected. December 2nd at 8 p.m." it said. Mayumi and Ryusei took care of displaying them. They were going to host the party in the great hall, so they had to move all the chairs and table. Sosuke and Yamato did the moving, they could do it ahead of time since there was no use of this room until the ball. Emily, Yuuki and Arisa oversaw the decorations, they headed to town to find what they needed. Finally, the remaining members of the council were in charge of the foods and drinks they decided to taste every available item before choosing. They said it was professionalism but Yuuki thought otherwise. She made fun of Aruto a lot regarding that matter.

With the help of Arisa and Emily, Yuuki picked icy blue tablecloth, white and silver napkins and glasses. They also found different shades of fabric to decorate the walls: night blue, white and silver. Arisa insisted on putting a vase of black-blue hellebores or winter roses on each table. Emily wanted a red carpet in the entrance, so they got one as well.

The winter ball was around the corner and the school was in effervescence, Aruto and his team had settled on a menu. There would be spiced wine and sodas. Hot beverages would be served toward the end of the evening. There would be small things to eat: finger sandwiches, pieces of quiche and choux for desert.

Yuuki and the rest of the council wanted to get new outfits for the occasion, besides, Yuuki did not own a night gown. She needed money to get one, so she talked about the ball to her father on the phone:

"My baby to a winter ball?" he shouted when she told him. "But what will you wear."

"About that… it would be nice if you could send me a little bit of money."

"Of course, little one, but you have to promise me something."

"What Dad?"

"Take a lot of pictures for your Daddy!"

"Alright Dad, I shall take pictures." she giggled.

"And be safe Yuuki please."

"Don't worry."

Now she had a budget, they could go shopping. The Wednesday before the dance, the council went to town to get outfits. At Yuuki's order, they split, the boys went their way while the girls stayed together. The president wanted their outfits to be a surprise. Emily got herself an off-the-shoulder dress. It was a cream color with pink fabric flowers sawn to it and it was short sleeved. The skirt puffed a lot and she looked like a princess with her golden locks. Yuuki promised to give her a few pink roses from the Toma mansion to make her a flower crown to go with the dress. Then it was Mayumi's turn. She was the shiest and picked a dress that matched her personality with a square neck and sky blue. It still had a bow on the hip and was draped underneath. Arisa wanted something a little sexier, she chose a sleeveless white gown with colourful jewels on the front. The front side of the skirt fell to the middle of her thighs while the back was floor length. Eventually, it was Yuuki's time to find a dress. She tried a few on, but they were all either too serious or too revealing. In the end, she found the perfect gown. Night blue, almost black. The top part was tight from the shoulder to the top of the thighs, it was made of lace that made rose patterns and had a plunging neckline to show a lot of cleavage but still stay in place. It was long sleeved, and the bottom of the skirt was a flowy, layered material. She looked fierce and sexy, exactly like she wanted. They paid for their gowns and got out of the store. Yuuki asked her friends to remind her to thank her father for the money he sent.

On Friday, the evening before the ball, they started preparing the room. Putting the tablecloth on the tables, moving the tables to exactly where Yuuki wanted them, hanging the fabrics to the walls, placing one vase on each table. They put the flowers in the vases directly, Arisa had a gift with plants and she assured them that they would not fade.

That same night, Aruto and Yuuki did not get much sleep, they talked for hours about the ball. They were in the library, Yuuki was playing the piano, she was now pretty good at it and they talked about the music that was going to get played at the dance. Aruto had chosen it and he refused to tell Yuuki what it was going to be like. They got back to their room in the early morning. The next day, there was no class, they were going to go to school around noon to make the final arrangements for the evening and then come back home to get changed. They still did not know what the other's outfit would be.

On Saturday, the council had lunch at school together, Mayumi's father cooking, it was delicious. Then they displayed the trays where the food would be. They gave their instructions to the people they employed for the event and they checked the flowers. They had not hired a vampire hunter as it was the custom when a large number of vampires gathered for an evening event. They wanted to remain discreet in the eyes of the senate and all of them were hoping for the best. Once they were done, Aruto and Yuuki went home to get ready for the night to come.


	19. Chapter 19

**I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 19: Winter ball part 1

Aruto went to his own room to get ready. In the meantime, Yuuki slipped into her blue dress, and did her make up. She was waiting for Aruto for her hair. She did a pale smoky eye with a wing of eyeliner and mascara, she only needed a light foundation and added a light swap of highlighter. The final touch was lipstick, she picked a nice burgundy mate one to match her hair and eyes. She had just finished and was putting on silver high heels when Aruto came in. He sent one of his bats to curl her hair while another tied it in a messy updo. He then came to her and put a crystal tiara on her head.

"You look like a princess." he said.

"Thanks, you're not bad either." Yuuki replied.

He was wearing a navy-blue suit that had a black collar with a white shirt and a black bow tie. He had also disciplined his hair. They were the perfect power couple. Just before they went to the school, Yuuki picked a few pink roses for Emily. They got in the car, their butler drove and took the direction of the school. As they were managing the event, they arrived early. Yuuki helped Emily with the flower and asked Sosuke to take a few pictures of her to send to her Dad. She was not sure how he would react to her new look. Then, the entire council took photographs together. They were all very elegant, the girls in their gowns and the boys with their various suit, green, blue, black with simple ties, bow ties or no ties. The director and Mrs. Gibeki joined them. They displayed the food with the help of the employees.

Around nine, the other students started arriving. Yuuki was near the entrance, she greeted her friends from her class and a few other people she knew. The music started playing, a soft "ambiance" music to begin the soiree. Yuuki was talking with a group of people and eating finger sandwiches around a table. People complimented her on her look. She glanced in Aruto's direction, he was chatting with a few boys Yuuki never met but knew for a fact they were vampires. Emily came her way:

"I hear they are going to play waltz music in a few moments." she told her friend with an excited tone.

"Are they?" Yuuki replied, distracted.

"Yuuki, come on; are you going to invite him or what?"

"I don't know yet." she lied.

"Of course, you are, you guys are practically dating."

"No, we're not." Yuuki denied turning her attention back to Emily.

"Let me recap. You live together. You're always together. From what you told me, you drank each other's blood. You travel together. He brushes your hair daily. You tell him things you never told even your family. And you sleep in the same bed!" Emily counted on her fingers.

"Shush, you fool. Being my confident doesn't give you the right to tell all my secrets out loud." Yuuki reprimanded her.

"No, but it gives me the duty to tell you the truth." she replied. "Seriously, I don't get why you didn't kiss him yet. You're perfect together.

"You forget the fact that we're not the same species and that if he loses control it's going to end up badly for me."

"Nonsense. He would never hurt you. My guess is you're afraid or to proud to admit that, contrary to your feelings for Aruto, what you felt for this Kaname was no love but mere gratitude and that you were using his status to protect yourself from the truth."

Yuuki softened.

"Yeah, I realize you're probably right but that doesn't make the argument less valid: it's dangerous for a human to be with a pureblood."

"My point is you should give it a try, but it is only an advice, Lady Yuuki." Emily teased her by calling her the same way Aruto did.

The waltz started. Yuuki exchanged a look with Emily and walked forward to Aruto. She extended her arm and he took her hand gracefully. He led her to the dance floor and they started dancing together. There is only two cases in which a couple talk while dancing. They are either really bad at it and make fun of or comfort each other, or they are talented and elegant, and they have something intimate or important to say to one another. Yuuki and Aruto were in the latest case. Yuuki listened to his whispers in her ear. He told her again how beautiful she was, how happy he was she lived with him and other sweet things that would only be said while sharing such a thing as a dance. They had such a chemistry between them that for a while, the other students didn't dare disturb them. They were the only ones dancing. A gorgeous princess and her fairytale prince. The elegance of the scene was only disturbed by the "click clacks" of Sosuke's camera. The communication manager did not miss the chance of getting such an idyllic shot of the two most important personalities of the school.

Eventually, little by little, a few couples started coming to the middle. Even though, they did not all had Kaname Kuran as a teacher as Yuuki did, some of them were quite good at waltz. From the corner of her eye, Yuuki saw Mr Mori observe the ball from a balcony. It was an elegant and peaceful event just like Yuuki had hoped. The director caught her watching him and winked at her. She was great at her job of president. A few other steps, a few last turns and the music ended. All dancers bowed to their partners and separated. Yuuki joined one of the balconies to make a welcome speech.

"My dear fellow students," she started with a light soft smile on her charismatic face, "thank you for coming to this ball tonight. The council and I have prepared this event with three objectives in mind. First, to bring you joy in a time when the cold and darkness of the long winter nights can sometimes take away the best of our optimism and dynamism. Second, to allow you all to meet other people and to enjoy a wonderful night with your friends. And finally, to celebrate together a marvellous semester at Shinrinchi High school. After those months of hard work, we all deserve a good party. Thank you again for coming. I hope, with the council and administration, that you have a good time at this year's Winter Ball."

One hour after the beginning of the event, the night was officially launched.


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or its characters.**

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Chapter 20: Winter ball part 2

The ball went smoothly. After Aruto, Yuuki danced with Sosuke, then Hiroto, Ryusei, Yamato and finally Rento. The girls of the council did the same: dancing first with the members of the council. With Sosuke, Yuuki talked about her training and how she had improved and really needed to get her hand on an anti-vampire weapon. With the others, the conversation that preceded and followed the dance was more serious, they were all concerned about the vampire senate and on a less life-or-death side about the first failures of the system to help employees that had occurred the week before. Some students had refused to help one day, and others had bullied one shy kid that was on duty that day. It was a concern for the council and they were planning on doing a conference for all students explaining the purpose and details of this new system. But a ball was no place to talk about serious things like that and they got back to dancing. As expected, a few boys wanted to dance with their president, guys from her class mostly with whom the conversation was warm and friendly and some students from other classes she did not know well and who she shared polite mundanities with.

At one point in the evening, the director requested a dance with the student president. Just like the vampires from the council, he was worried by the senate. But they did not talk about it much, there was no point in stressing about something hypothetical and far away during such a happy night. The dessert was served, with Emily and Mayumi, Yuuki indulged in the small choux, especially the grapefruit ones that were exquisite. They heard some girls from other classes making comments on how it was a great idea to have displayed flowers on every table. They immediately ran to Arisa to tell her. The night ended with no real incident except a few cakes that fell on some girls' dresses. The doing of one playful 10th grade boy.

On their way home, Aruto complemented Yuuki on her dress again and they talked about how splendid the evening was. They were lucky, there had been no rain or snow to disturb the peace of the night. They got to bed together and fell asleep pretty quickly. They were not so lucky about the weather the following day. The council had to go back to the ball room to clean it, but the snow had fell heavily during the night. Yuuki and Aruto did not depend on a vehicle to get there so they had no problem, the others however were in troubles. Rento who lived the farthest was trapped in his home for at least the rest of the morning. Arisa and Sosuke came on foot, so did Ryusei and Mayumi. It was easier for Yamato, Emily, Ken and Hiroto as they lived in the school. Yet, when the first three got out of the dorm building, Ken slipped on an ice patch and twisted his ankle. The two older students had to carry him to the ball room where Aruto healed his injury. It was convenient to have a pureblood friend around.

In a joyful atmosphere, they rolled the red carpet, folded the fabrics and tablecloths, took all the trach out and cleaned the room. Then they put everything back as it was before. Arisa and Rento got into a friendly fight:

"I saw you dancing with Rami." Arisa told the boys teasefully.

"Yeah so what?"

"You like her, don't you?"

"That's not of your business." he mumbled but obviously Arisa hit a nerve.

"You were all sloppy sloppy with her last night." she continued mocking him.

"Shut up! Nobody's messing with your relationship with Sosuke." he attacked her.

In response, he got a splash of water in the face that Arisa directed with her vampire abilities. They only stopped when Yuuki raised her voice:

"Enough both of you!"

Unfortunately, it was not the only fight that happened this day. When they got back home after the cleaning, Yuuki sent her father the picture she had Sosuke take of her in her gown before the ball. The answer was quick to come. She received a phone call five minutes after she sent the image.

"Yuuki what is this dress?" Kaien started aggressively without a "good afternoon".

"Hello to you too Dad. Well it's the dress I bought with my friends what's wrong with it?" she asked innocently.

"Well first it shows quite some cleavage and second it's not like you!"

"So, I can't change my style, is that what you're saying?"

"No, of course you can, but a warning would have been appreciated." he calmed down a little "I didn't show it to Kaname or the Kurans they would certainly have disapproved."

"I don't care about what they think Dad! They can't, and you can't make me dress like a little girl anymore!"

"But you are a little girl!" he argued.

"I'm turning seventeen next week! It's about time you guys realize I am a woman now!"

"I know Yuuki, but you know how I am, I'll always be overprotective with my precious daughter." he sighed, "It makes me think: it's your birthday next week and the holidays the week after that. First, we'll have a party when you get home because we won't be able to be with you on your birthday but also, I wanted to ask if you wanted to come to the Cross Academy ball that takes place the Friday you come back."

"Sure, I'd like that."

"It's settled then."

They said goodbye and Yuuki hung up. She kind of wanted to know how Kaname would have reacted to her dress, but now with her father's reaction, there was no way she would wear it again at the Cross ball.

"It's your birthday next Saturday I hear." Sosuke said making her jump in surprise. She had not heard him arrive.

"Yes, it is."

"What do you want to do this day?"

"Nothing in particular, don't worry about me." she simply replied.

"Okay, we'll see." he kissed her forehead.

The week passed. The council held their conference about the helping system and on the short-term, it had some positive effects even though it did not make the system perfect right away. People seemed more involved.

On Friday, Yuuki was sitting alone in her room as Aruto had gone out when a bat erupted in the room.

 _Yuuki we have a problem!_ said Aruto's voice in her head, _My parents went to come to the house tonight!_

* * *

 **Please help me by reviewing this story!**


	21. Chapter 21

**As usual, i do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 21: The Toma blade

 _It's alright, I can go sleep in the dorm for the weekend,_ Yuuki started panicked when she heard of the arrival of Lady and Lord Toma.

 _No! Please! You can't be alone for your birthday! I was thinking maybe you could meet them. I believe they would like you._ Aruto said in her head.

 _Yeah, but could we trust them with not telling the Kurans?_

 _Come on, they don't particularly like the Kurans._

 _Then how do we know I'm safe? Usually I'm protected by my link with the Kurans._

 _You're with me._ he assured her.

 _Alright, but I advise you to sleep in your own bed tonight._

She heard his giggle in her mind. She just had to find something correct to wear. She jumped into her blue pants and off-the-shoulder white top, threw on a crystal necklace Arisa had given her and put her heels on. Then she ran downstairs to warn the servants. She asked one of the maids to make it look as if Aruto had been sleeping in his bed and not hers, understand: put his things back at their rightful place and slightly unmake his bed.

The employees and Yuuki stood in the entrance to meet the masters. They arrived with their son as an army of bats. Aruto placed himself directly at Yuuki's side. The Toma couple appeared. Lord Toma, a playful, unpredictable pureblood who favoured the appearance of a six-year-old child. He had messy blond hair as his son, but his eyes looked more pink. He wore a tuxedo with a top hat. Yuuki found the man fascinating. His eyes, Aruto certainly got from his mother. Lady Toma looked just like her child, only hair were a shade darker. She wore a long silk dress with no sleeves but a high lace collar. Together they were frightening and exhaled power.

Aruto's mother came to Yuuki first while her husband greeted the servants. Yuuki kissed her hand and she seemed to appreciate the gesture.

"So, you are my son's superior." she said in a cold tone.

"Only in the school council, my lady." Yuuki corrected carefully.

"Fear not, Yuuki Cross, I have no desire to harm you. And please, call me Lady Alana," the vampire offered, "Here is my husband, Lord Shizuku."

"No, we'll not harm you, child, it would be a shame to get the Kurans angry and besides you could be useful." Lord Toma laughed with a high-pitched voice.

The couple wanted to refresh themselves as they had just arrived. Aruto went to his room and Yuuki to hers. It was weird not being together. Yuuki took the occasion to look around a few papers that piled up on her presidential desk. Before long, a small knock was heard on her door. She went to open the door, and, to her surprise, discovered Lady Alana.

"I was hoping we could talk Miss Cross."

Yuuki led her guest to the armchairs.

"I hope you forgive Shizuku for his rudeness." Lady Alana began. "He can be quite startling sometimes."

"Do not worry, I have been around purebloods my whole life, I managed to learn a thing or too."

"And yet you call my son by his name and he calls you a lady." she said.

"He insisted."

"I know I'm teasing you sweet girl." The older woman giggled. "You must be very special to him. He showed us a picture of you two dancing, I must say you have great chemistry."

"Thank you, my lady."

"I hope we can be close Yuuki."

"I hope so too." Yuuki replied sincerely.

They all had diner together.

"Tell me, child, is it really your birthday tomorrow?" Lord Shizuku asked Yuuki.

"Yes, my lord."

"Does that mean your hunter father and the Kuran boy are coming?"

"No, they don't know I live here. It wouldn't please them."

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with us." Lady Toma assured her.

Yuuki went to bed alone that night. She had a few nightmares, one of them included Kaname butchering the entire Toma household. She woke up brutally, sweating. She looked at her clock, it was only six in the morning. She was about to bounce her head back on her soft pillow but noticed a shadow moving in her room.

"Who's here?"

Aruto stepped in the light of the window. He was carrying something under a white cloth. Yuuki interrogated him with her eyes.

"It's a birthday present… sort of." he explained. "Happy birthday Lady Yuuki."

He laid the object on her laps and sit on the side of her bed. Yuuki unwrapped the cloth. Inside was a sword, a skinny, pointy, well-balanced blade.

"It is called the Toma blade." Aruto started telling her. "A few centuries ago, my ancestors wanted to get a powerful weapon: an anti-vampire weapon that they could hold, as the Kuran are the only purebloods who can touch one. So, they had a sword made with the right half of the blade made of anti-vampire metal and the handle and left side made of regular steel. It failed. The anti-vampire power contaminated the whole sword. However, it turned out to be a weapon that's effective on both vampires and humans. Ever since, when an heir of the family turns sixteen, he gets the blade. Therefore, it's mine but as I cannot use it, I entrust it to you."

"I'm honoured Aruto, thank you, that's a wonderful gift." Yuuki said with sincerity pouring from her mouth.

She put the weapon down and hug her vampire friend. He got up and walked to the door. At the last moment, Yuuki stopped him and asked him:

"Aruto, how did you know I was going to wake up?"

"I felt you tense. You were having nightmare, were you not?"

Yuuki nodded, he turned back to kiss her forehead and then, left the room for good, leaving her to fall back to sleep. She had no more nightmare this morning.

When she woke up a few hours later, a bouquet of multi-coloured roses waited for her on her bed table. She put a robe on and got downstairs to eat her breakfast.


	22. Chapter 22

**I am sorry I didn't update for a while, but I'm back to school so I might have less time. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 22: Happy birthday

The cook had prepared a luxurious breakfast with pancakes, omelette and fresh pears. Yuuki was surprised to see Aruto up in the morning, but he told her that he'd rather spend her birthday with her than a boring night with his parents. When they finished their breakfast, he took her hand, led her to her bedroom and asked her to get changed and meet him there in twenty minutes. On her bed, she found a dress quite similar to the purple one Aruto got her but dark red with purple roses. She put it on with stockings, her high heels boots and a black long coat. She felt a bat get in her hair and she saw an elegant half updo in the mirror. She stepped out of her room and met Aruto there. He took her hand and a fly of bats later they landed in the middle of the mountains, natural hot springs bubbling around them. Yuuki could feel the comfortable moss right under the snow on the ground. She discovered thick blankets and pillows in a corner on the ground.

"Aruto!" she exclaimed.

"What? You said you wanted to come to the mountains." he smiled at her.

They shared tea and pastries there all morning, giggling and laughing in the middle of the mountain forest. Around noon, they came back home, hand in hand. After taking of her coat and handing it to one of the maids, Aruto led Yuuki to the library. What she saw there stopped her in surprise in the doorway.

"We couldn't just not throw a birthday party." Aruto told her in her ear.

"Happy birthday President!" the nine other members of the council shouted.

Yuuki's face softened and she smiled as she hugged all her friends. They chatted loudly in a joyous atmosphere. Aruto had a birthday cake made, grapefruit flavoured. Yuuki blew her seventeen camdles. Then was the time for the presents. Arisa got her a burgundy jumpsuit and Mayumi an elegant old pink backless dress. Hiroto had found books that retraced the history of all great vampire families. Ken, Rento, Yamato and Ryusei got her various gift cards. Sosuke's present was more peculiar, he presented her with two daggers, one long and one short.

"I had them made for you, they match your fighting style almost as well as the Toma blade. Ther is no magic in them but as long as you don't attack a pureblood, you just have to aim for the heart of head and it will work just as good."

Yuuki thanked him, took the long one in her right hand and short in her left. The weapons were very detailed, with floral motives on the handle and cut outs on the blades themselves. Then, came Emily's turn. She gave her a stunning necklace, very heavy, golden with a stone that looked like a ruby in the middle and a scarf in a golden lacy fabric with roses. Aruto looked at her and whispered in her head.

 _You'll have my gift tonight._

 _You already did so much for me Aruto, I don't need anything else._ she replied.

 _You don't get a say in that matter, Lady President._ he answered.

After their guests left, Yuuki told Aruto about her father's reaction to her winter ball dress and informed him that she was going to her father's school ball as well.

"You'll need a new gown then." he said.

"Or I could just use my old one, the one I wore last year." Yuuki added.

"What did it look like?" Aruto asked, sceptical.

"It was white, short in the front with a long back, with long sleeve and a very humble neck line."

"It doesn't suit your style or personality."

"It suits what I showed them."

"I don't like it." Aruto said.

"I could help." Lady Alana declared while stepping in the room. "I'm sorry, I didn't me to overhear your conversation. Happy birthday, Miss Cross. If it's a dress you need, I might have the perfect one for you."

Yuuki nodded and they listened to Aruto's mother.

"I bought one a few years back but it's too daring for me, it is not something a woman my age is supposed to wear. I could show it to you."

They followed the Lady back to the master's bedroom. She led them to the closet and showed them an evening gown.

"Wow, yeah, that would be great." Yuuki reacted when seeing the piece of clothing.

"And it would piss off the Kurans which is great." Lord Shizuku, who had just woken up, added.

"I could give it to you as a birthday present." his wife said. "It's not like I'm going to wear it anyway."

Yuuki heart-warmingly thanked the couple for their help. She dined with the Toma family before retiring to her chamber. Aruto followed her.

"I could send a bat to style your hair, but we have to figure out what you want right now so that we don't risk being discovered by taking too long." he said about her ball.

After a few tries, they settled on a strict half updo to get her hair out of her face and they decided to keep the rest of her hair straight. They sat together on Yuuki's bed and Aruto took something out of his back pocket.

"I still have to give you your present." he said and extended his hand to her. He opened it and revealed a gilded ring. "It has the Toma sigil on it. I want you to wear it, not all the time, but you should at least keep it with you. If you ever get in trouble with vampires or hunters this could save you."

Yuuki nodded and let him put the ring on her right thumb.

"Also, it's about time I give you my blood again." Aruto added more light-heartedly.

"Share blood, remember?" Yuuki corrected him.

He gave her his blood and right after, she cut her wrist so he could drink hers without risk. She looked at him with a calm face while he did so. They looked oddly right there, doing something both intimate and forbidden. When he was done, Aruto sealed her wound and looked back at her face. She wiped away the dropplets of bloods that sticked to his lower lip with her finger. She saw him starring down at her lips, a light smile started appearing on them and after hesitating a little, she leaned toward him. She brushed her lips against his softly. He appeared surprise but soon responded to her kiss. It was soft, it was quiet as almost their entire relationship. They didn't rush things, both of them enjoying the slight pressure of the others lips against theirs. Their kiss did not deepen, they could share plenty of others later, there was no need to push this first kiss too much. They rested for a while, eyes closed, nose pressing against nose. Yuuki was the first to open her eyes and she looks tenderly at her vice-president calm face. Then, he opened his eyes too, kissed her forehead lightly and left the room.


	23. Chapter 23

**I do not own Vampire Knight.**

* * *

Chapter 23: Cross ball

Right after class, the next Friday, Yuuki got in the cab her father had sent her. She had taken her suitcase to school, first because she needed to leave as quickly as possible to get ready for the ball and second because her father did not know she was not living in the dorms anymore. She had gotten used to her "bat" trips with Aruto and the car ride seemed boring and everlasting to her. Finally, she arrived at her house in Cross Academy. Nobody was inside, but she found a note:

 _Yuuki,_

 _I have things to take care of, so I'll see you directly at the ball. For your dress, I took out the white one from last year. DO NOT wear the same as the other day, you don't want to get Kaname, Haruka or Juri angry._

 _Love,_

 _Daddy who loves you so much._

Yuuki smiled, he did not say that she had to wear the white dress nor that she could not wear another. Good. He was going to hate this one, but she did not care or rather she cared but was doing it anyway. It was about time they realised she had changed. She went to her room got into the dress and put her feet in black high heels. She went to her vanity and did her make up: a bold lip a shade lighter than the dress and dusty rose eyeshadow with a touch of gold and eyeliner. She finished off with contouring her face. They were not going to like that either. She put the scarf Emily gave her around her shoulder and heard a small knock on her window. She opened it, a bat entered, went in her hair and left.

 _You look marvellous_ , she heard in her head.

She turned to the mirror and looked at her image. With the French twist, he was right, she looked… imperial… that was the word. She chose not to wear the Toma ring, not wanting to annoy the Kurans more than necessary.

Fifteen minutes before the due time, she got out of the house after one last look in the mirror. On the road to the ball room, she met Zero, or more accurately: she woke Zero who was sleeping against a tree up. His first reaction when he saw her was to open wide his eyes in shock and look at her face with the most surprised expression Yuuki had ever seen.

"You know they're not going to approve of this gown?" he asked when he found back his ability to speak. "Not that I care whatsoever."

"It's about time they realize I'm not letting them control me. And besides, I'm not violating the dress code." Yuuki replied. "Are you coming or not?"

He got up and started walking, but Yuuki stopped him. She rearranged his uniform, close his vest and picked up a winter rose on the path to put on his pocket. It was better than nothing. She took his arm and they went together to where the ball was held. The students were starting to arrive, they joined the flow. When they got to the room, they rapidly went to the balcony where they would probably find her father and the Kurans. Indeed, they were here, Kaien Cross, Juri, Haruka and Hayato Kuran. Kaien opened his mouth to talk, but Yuuki was faster:

"You told me not to wear the blue one but nothing else." she simply said.

"Yeah, but that…" he started angrily.

"Don't get mad." Lady Juri stopped him. "It's not what we're used to, but it suits her, she looks good."

Yuuki bowed her head to Lady Juri to thank her. As a matter of fact, her dress was a bit risqué. It was a long deep purple dress. The neckline was technically above her collarbones but there was a big triangular cut-out on the front that made like a second neckline. It had no sleeves but large straps and, on the shoulders, heavy beads, false crystals and metal were embroided to resemble wings.

"Wait till Kaname sees you. He'll not like it." Kaien mumbled.

"And what will he do?" Yuuki broke.

"Hum… but … nothing…" her father said, puzzled as he'd never seen Yuuki get angry before.

"Exactly, nothing! Because there is nothing he can do about me being who I am." Yuuki replied with as much strength and anger as she could in her voice. She turned her back on them and went to the main room to try and look for Yori. She found her, at first, she was startled by Yuuki's outfit, but then she was very happy to see her friend. They talked for a while.

"Yuuki?" a voice said behind her.

She turned to find Kaname standing in his white uniform. He looked at her from head to toe.

"Dear, you should not dress like this." he said.

"Why that?"

"Because it doesn't look like you."

"And what is like me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you don't know who I am, you don't know what I like, and you don't know what hurts me. So, enough is enough."

He offered his hand, requesting a dance. Yuuki took it, but while they waltzed, he kept making comments about how he knew who she truly was, that this way of dressing was just a phase, etc. It only added up to Yuuki's anger. Right after the music ended, she was ready to get out of this room, call Aruto and go with him in the middle of nowhere to dance without music. But on her way to the door, Haruka stood and he stopped her.

"I agree with my wife, you look beautiful." he said. She turned her gaze to him. "Leave some time to Kaien and Kaname. I can see you look more confident in this gown than you did last time I saw you."

"Thank you." Yuuki tried.

"Do you dance?"

They danced together, and it calmed Yuuki down. After that, she danced with a few boys of the Day Class and, surprisingly, with Ichijo and Aido.

At the end of the ball, she went directly to her room, avoiding her father. She took a picture and sent it to Aruto before going to bed.


	24. Chapter 24&25

**Sorry, I did not publish for a while!**

 **One of you asked that I make my chapters longer but I actually have a few already written (I just don't find the time to upload them...), so instead I decided to publish two of them each time! I hope you like this new format!**

 **As usual, I do not own Vampire Knight.**

* * *

Chapter 24: Winter holidays

The situation with Kaien did not get better. Yuuki could not determine what his feelings were. She did not know if he was angry, surprised, disappointed or anything else. She believed he was not furious because they had a birthday party for her. He baked her a beautiful chocolate cake that he decorated with sugar roses. It turned out Zero made the decoration. But still, it was a kind gesture from Kaien's part.

About the party itself, Yuuki received knew gifts from her family and friends. A strict black dress from Kaname, Yuuki did not know if there was a message in it. Books from Hayato. A teddy bear from Zero, when she looked at him with surprise drawn on her face he simply said: "So that you have something to hold on to at night." From the Kuran couple, she received a bouquet of eternal flowers, roses that were kept in resin. She thanked everybody, and they ate the cake. This party was polite, almost contained, as if the participants did not want to hurt the others' feelings but still were quite not comfortable with one another. They were all in the sofas in the living room, the light was dimmed, and there were small, quiet chatter. It was not the kind of atmosphere that Yuuki felt good in. At least not with those people. They were not exactly her family, not all of them, but they were not strangers either. She could not qualify them as solely acquaintances, yet not exactly as friends. She knew them well, they knew her well, they shared a sort of intimacy; there was a lot of respect, gratitude and probably fear too which could explain why their relationship was not so strong. Ironically, the person she felt the closest to was also the less talkative. From the beginning, Yuuki had learnt that he never expressed his feelings or his thoughts. She had had to learn how to understand him otherwise and right now she knew that he was worried. They chatted, or rather whispered about it and Yuuki expressed what she was thinking:

"Tell me Zero, why the worried look on your face?"

"I'm not worried." he mumbled back.

"We both know that's a lie, so what about you tell me the Truth?"

"I don't want to bother you about that."

"It's my birthday, you have to tell me." she said with the smile she usually showed him.

"Fine, I'll tell you what I'm concerned about, but I'm telling you, I'm not worried." he gave in "I believe you're lying to us. I'm pretty sure you're putting yourself in some kind of trouble in that school of yours, but I don't know what exactly and I feel like you will not tell me anyway."

"I'm not in trouble."

"See, I know that's a lie too, but you know that I will not force you to tell me or do anything, I owe you too much. Still, I want to protect you more than anything."

"Why? Because you think I'm weak?" she said while beginning to get annoyed, and she felt a tickle at the tips of her right hand.

"No, but I don't think you should be around vampires or anybody with no protection." he admitted.

"I don't need your protection." she said vigorously.

"Yes, you need protection!" Kaien intervened.

Yuuki was so absorbed in her conversation that she did not hear her father come closer to where she was sitting with Zero. He was probably there since Zero said he wanted to protect her. He went on, seeming angry himself:

"You need protection it seems. At least to keep you in check. That's why I asked the Guild to send a hunter to your school: Kaito. He asked your directress to be a new dorm supervisor. He doesn't have the answer yet, but I don't see why they would disagree, he has all the qualifications and he didn't say anything about the Guild. He will watch over you."

"You realize, I'm not a baby anymore?" Yuuki replied in a low menacing tone, the tickles had come back. "You can't just monitor me forever. Why can't you guys trust me?"

She ran back to her room and slammed the door. The first thing she did was take her phone to send a message to Mr Mori, telling him to not hire Kaito under any circumstances. He replied quickly asking the reason as he was about to give the hunter his approval. She told him that he was sent by the Guild. As expected, he agreed with her and sent a refusal letter to Kaito. Yuuki was still feeling the tickle and weirdly, she felt drown to her suitcase. She moved the sensation aside and stayed in her room. She started thinking that she really missed Aruto. She felt like she might cry but held back her tears. She had decided to abandon all that made her feel and look weak and crying was among them. Her thoughts drifted to Aruto again. As if he'd heard those thoughts, a bat came knocking at her window. She opened the window and let it in.

 _What is it Milady?_ she heard in her head.

 _They make me mad Aruto, so mad._

 _What did they do this time?_

 _My father, he tried to send a hunter to school to look over me. she explained, I stopped it, of course, but still._

 _Do you want to come back home?_

 _No, he would probably send an entire army if I did that._ she thought and laughed at how pitiful the situation was.

Jut as she told him that, someone came to her room. There was no time to get the bat out and close the window as the person who came apparently did not consider it appropriate to knock. It was Zero, obviously. Yuuki just had the time to see Aruto's bat fly to her closet.

"Are you all right?" Zero asked. She didn't reply and just sat on her bed with a closed face. "He's doing it for your own good, you know. I'd feel better too, if Kaito were there with you, he's an old friend of mine."

"I don't care." Yuuki said

Zero moved closer, sat on her bed. After a while he drew his head closer to her neck as he usually did when he wanted blood. But this time was different, this time, Yuuki pushed him away. She did not feel emotionally strong enough to keep all her secrets from him.

"Get away from me." she said.

He was shocked but left her room anyway and did not bother her anymore during the holidays.

* * *

Chapter 25: Summon

The rest of the holidays was pretty much the same. Kaien was angry with Yuuki, especially since he learned that Kaito's application was refused. Zero was avoiding her. The Kurans were as polite and distant as ever. The only thing that changed was that Aruto visited her more often. He did not like Zero. He told her so the night Zero tried to drink from her.

 _I don't like this one_ , he said as soon as the door closed.

 _He's nice_ , Yuuki answered calmly, _It's just that he took the habit of drinking my blood and I don't feel like giving it to him today as he might find out about you for instance._

 _That does not mean he has the right to treat you like a defenceless little animal. You deserve to be treated as a queen._

As she did not feel comfortable in her house anymore, she went out to train as often as possible. Not with the Toma blade of course, that would have been too suspicious, but with a training sword and occasionally, when she was certain nobody was watching, with the daggers Sosuke gave her. She liked those weapons. She liked the balance in her hands and how light they were. She could practice for hours. She sometimes left as early as seven in the morning, used the fact that vampires were sleeping and that her father was mad at her to skip lunch and continued till four in the afternoon. Then she came back home to take a shower, before talking to Aruto through his bat and taking her dinner with the Kurans, Zero and her father. That was the only time in the day when they were all together. In the evening she talked with the Kurans, mostly Hayato and Haruka, but after she discovered that Yuuki played the piano, Lady Juri started chatting with her as well, and they played together. It was the first of her new skills that she showed them. And it appeared to calm Kaien a little. Maybe he was thinking that at least his daughter was not doing only rebellious things at Shinrinchi. Even though Yuuki did not want to show them her talent at first, she enjoyed having them as a public. They seemed to like what she was playing, and it felt good to have at least some positive feedback from them. The piano became their primary source of discussions. It was some kind of safe ground: they were not addressing any issue but at least, nobody was getting angry. Her father started talking to her again. Yuuki realized she had missed her bright, loud Dad. One afternoon, after her training, she asked him if she could come gardening with him. While they worked, they talked:

"Yuuki, you have to realize, I love you very much. And it's not that I don't trust you, but as a father, I want you to be as safe as possible." he started after a while.

"I'm aware, but that doesn't give you the right to spy on me."

"My sweet daughter, I'm not spying on you, I'm keeping you safe."

"It feels like you want to spy." she replied.

She took her shower and was reflecting in her room when a bat bursted in her room.

 _Lady Yuuki we've a problem, the Guild wants to summon you. My mother spy on them and she just learnt that they were planning on coming to Cross Academy to find you tomorrow. So, if you don't want them there, you should go to them now._ he said so fast that Yuuki had trouble understanding.

 _Calm down. What do they want?_

 _They are pissed about our blade and also, you stopped one of them from coming to our school. It must have gotten back to them._ he explained _. Do you want me to come get you?_

 _No, not you. Send one of the vampires._ she commanded.

 _Fine, I'm sending you Arisa, her cousin comes to your school, it should be fine._

 _Okay, I'll get changed and do my suitcase. There are only four days of holidays left so I'll come back home after._

She changed into her blue pants and white top, put her high heels and threw on her black coat. In it, she hid her daggers. She prepared hastily her bags for school.

She went down with her suitcase, to inform her father that she was going back early. But she found nobody in the living room. However, the Kurans, her father and Zero were outside. Apparently, they were arguing with somebody. She came closer.

"What do you want vampire?" she heard Zero shout.

"I told you, I'm here because Miss Cross needs to come with me right now." Arisa's little voice said.

"You're not taking Yuuki." Lady Juri said and Yuuki could feel the menacing aura of the purebloods.

Yuuki went through the group and surprised her family with her suitcase and outfit.

"Dad, I have an emergency, I'm going back to school. Don't worry, I'll call you later." she said firmly. "Let's go Arisa."

"Yes, Lady Yuuki." the vampire bowed.

Without turning back, they disappeared on the alley. At the school gate, a car was waiting for them. They climbed in and only after the car door closed, Yuuki started asking question.

"What do you know about this matter Arisa?" she asked.

"Apparently, Lady Toma saw a meeting at the Guild. She has spies everywhere. They are quite mad at you. They feel like the Toma blade only belongs with a trained hunter, they don't like the fact that you command a hundred vampires and finally, you allegedly prevented a hunter from coming to our school."

"Yes, I did that."

They remained both silent for the rest of the journey to the Guild that was two hours away. When they arrived in the city, Yuuki could feel Arisa tense. She was not exactly comfortable either. The atmosphere itself was menacing in this town. They stopped in front of the huge building that sheltered the offices of the Guild.


	25. Chapter 26&27

**I am sorry I did not update sooner, I will try to do better. To make it up to you I am trying to prepare a bonus chapter that would be way longer than what I usually post. I should post it between now and Thanksgiving (for non-Americans like me it is on the 22th of November).**

 **I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 26: Questioning

Before entering the building, Yuuki took the Toma blade, just in case. Arisa could not accompany her inside, she was already in too much danger simply by being in this city, and besides, a vampire could not get in uninvited, and she was not invited. Alone, Yuuki climbed the steps that led to the gate. Once inside, one of the hunters came directly to her, asking her to follow him. He led her to a dark meeting room. As soon as she saw the man dressed in a woman's kimono that was sitting at the end of the table, she knew he was the president. She had heard Zero talk about him. He appeared to be a cold man, looking slightly foolish but that only made him more frightening. She watched him study her from head to toe and she kept a defying face. She decided not to talk first, waiting for the hunters to do the first move. After a few minutes that felt like hours, the president raised his voice.

"Miss Cross, what an annoying little girl."

"If I annoy you why am I here?"

"You're here precisely for that."

Yuuki did not answer, there was no point in getting angry too soon and she wanted them to get frustrated. It worked, there was a hint of unease in the president's voice when he said:

"We heard you're the new holder of the Toma blade."

"I am." Again, calm voice and short answers.

"You shouldn't be. It was supposed to be a hunter."

"It's supposed to be anyone the Tomas see fit."

"You're a weak little girl how could you use it?"

"What makes you think I'm weak?"

"You don't know how to wield a sword."

"I know enough." Yuuki was getting angry and the tickle she felt at home returned.

"Fine, let's forget this matter for a minute. You stopped an action of the Guild, or so we heard."

"I didn't want you sniffing in my school. And my father or the Kurans cannot know about my actions."

"Is that why you stopped Kaito from coming?"

"Primarly."

"You realize we can't let a little girl rule a pureblood and a hundred of vampires on her own?"

"You realize I don't care?"

"I could have you executed and make it look like a vampire attack."

The tickle intensified. Yuuki noticed a few electrical arcs between the sword and her fingers. She quickly hid her hand behind her back.

"I am not giving up on the blade and neither on the presidency of the school. And you do realize I'm protected by an army of vampires?"

"Let's make a deal, after all, reckless as you are, you won't last long, so let's say you keep the blade and the presidency. But I'm sending Kaito and another hunter to your school."

"I will accept only if the Kurans and my father hear nothing about my life here and the Senate doesn't know about our deal."

"The Senate will know eventually but fine, let's make this deal. I don't like Kaien anyway."

"And I want this deal written, sent to me and kept in your archives."

"You're definitely smarter than you look young girl." he smiled.

"Do we have a deal?" Yuuki asked still cold.

"Yes, we have, we'll send the deal to you. See with your directress to have our two Hunters in. I'll have one of my men escort you out."

On her way out, Yuuki thought that this meeting was half of a defeat and half of a success, she had had to compromise but she would have plenty of time to work around this unwelcomed surveillance.

She met with Arisa who had waited for her in the car. They drove silently to the Toma Mansion a few hours away. Yuuki thought she would have to call her Dad at some point. But not today, she needed time to design a make up story. They arrived at the house.

 _Home, finally_ , Yuuki thought.

Aruto, Lady and Lord Toma were waiting for her in the entrance. The couple had delayed their departure to meet her. Lady Alana hugged her, and they asked her what had happened. She told them about her compromise, and they seemed to agree with her, better not start a war now. Aruto's mother also wanted to know how the Cross Ball went. Aruto had therefore not told her about their meetings. She willingly explained this remarkable event and described with a little humor what faces her family did.

The two adults left. Yuuki unpacked her things, sent an email to Mr Mori about the hunters and looked at the papers that required her attention. Soon enough, she felt Aruto's hand on her shoulders, he started massaging her shoulders and the back of her neck. He untied all the knots in her muscles. She relaxed totally and did not object when he started slowly kissing her neck and her shoulder. She got up and hugged him. She buried her head in his chest and held onto him tightly. He gentle rubbed her back, giving her kisses soft as butterflies from time to time. They stayed like that for a long time, simply holding each other. Yuuki could feel the heat of his body, feel his steady heartbeat through his shirt and get a quick view of his love. Here, she felt vulnerable but in a good way, she did not mind being weak when she was in his arms, she knew she did not have to look strong for him to know how strong she was. At some point, they kissed. Yuuki wrapped her arms around Aruto's neck and pulled him down to her, she pressed her lips softly against his.

Later that night, they got to bed together, just as they had before his parents came. They had just played the piano together and talked about their holidays with their families. They kissed again in the bed for a little while. It felt natural and great. Neither of them could pinpoint the exact moment they fell asleep in each other's arm. The only thing they knew was that it was right, with Aruto's head on Yuuki's stomach and her hand in his hair.

* * *

Chapitre 27: Aruto

There was still two days of holidays left. Yuuki spent it mostly with Aruto. Sosuke came the first morning to train with her. They had been practicing their skills for two hours when Aruto came watching. Yuuki was now pretty good with a sword, she was able to defend herself against Sosuke and sometimes even hurt him. At some point, Aruto asked Yuuki if she could use the Toma blade. They had discussed the tickling and electrical arcs at breakfast and Aruto was curious about these symptoms. She started swinging the sword, alone of course, they did not want to hurt Sosuke. After a few strikes, electrical arcs started to appear. Yuuki stopped but they stood. She felt it between the blade and her, she could hold it in her hand. As soon as Aruto came closer to examine it one of the arcs struck him in the arm. He shouted in pain and whispered:

"It's pure anti vampire energy."

They decided to stop here for today and Aruto said he would talk about it to his parents to know if that had ever occurred.

They basically spent the end of their holidays cuddling, in bed or in one of the sofa, in the garden or the library.

A time came when it became vital to call Kaien. Yuuki anxiously picked her phone to talk to her father.

"Yuuki I think you owe me an explanation." Were his first words.

"I know." Yuuki said while trying to figure out what to tell him and what to leave out. Finally, she decided to tell him about the presidency but not the vampires. "Well, Dad, I didn't tell you because I thought it would upset you but I'm the student president here. And yesterday, one of the members of my council had a problem so I had to come back quickly."

"How is that supposed to explain that a vampire came and that you already knew about her coming?"

"I didn't know she was a vampire." she lied "And I used my cellphone."

"Well the problem of that vampire girl is solved, Kaname asked her father to transfer her to the night class."

"What? You can't force Arisa to come to your school."

"And you can't lie to me like you did young miss." he replied.

When the call ended Yuuki was mad and immediately messaged Arisa to ask her not to go, but there was nothing she could do, the order came from her father and the senate and she could not defy the hierarchy. The good thing that could come out of this misfortune was that now Yuuki had a spy in the Night Class. There was nothing she or Aruto could do without exposing her secrets.

They got back to school without Arisa, her father had been really quick to do the changes. The two hunters were there too. There was Kaito, tall, slender and auburn hair. He looked maybe five years older than Yuuki. The other one was named Sam, he was probably around forty, his hair were starting to go grey and he looked muscular. On the first day, Yuuki summoned them in her office. She was alone with Aruto in a sofa when they knocked on her door. She invited them in. She spent an hour reminding them their promise not to say a word about what was going on in this school. While doing so, she was casually playing with her sword. She also explained to them their system of watch duty and was pleased to realize that contrary to their president they seemed open to the proposition of working with the vampires even though they were not exactly thrilled.

Once they were gone, Aruto had to go, his parents were supposed to meet with the Kurans and they wanted him to be here. This had been planned the week before. Of course, Yuuki had heard nothing about it from the Kurans but since she wanted to know what would happen during this meeting, Aruto's parents had taught their son how to use his bats to allow Yuuki to see with only two of them and not an army. To do so, she obviously had to drink a lot of his blood and therefore, they had shared blood and trained every night since Yuuki got back. She was now able to see perfectly everything Aruto wanted her to see. They used this technic during the meeting.

The bat that was carrying Yuuki's sight stood casually on a light in the Kuran mansion where the meeting happened. She saw Hayato, Haruka and Juri in three big armchairs and Kaname standing behind them. They had prepared sofas for the Tomas, undoubtedly in an effort to show them that they were inferior to them. Aruto and his parents took place on the sofas as if nothing bothered them but, in that form, Yuuki felt everything Aruto felt and right now he was already angry. They talked about politics and the senate which was boring but still, Yuuki careful learnt everything she could because she was always better off knowing everything she could about the vampire system. Apparently, Kaname's family wanted to meet primarily to know where the Tomas stood in politics but once they were done talking about that, the conversation shifted to more casual matters. At some point, Kaname who had remained mostly quiet until then talked to Aruto.

"Tell me Aruto, where do you live? I understand you're not always with your parents."

"I go to a human school." Aruto only replied.

"Where?" Kaname pushed.

"Shinrinchi" Aruto let go as if it was nothing but Yuuki knew he could feel her anger.

"Do you know a Miss Cross?" Kaname asked aggressively.

"I don't know her personally, but I must have seen her." he lied but rather than calming Yuuki down, his lie only made her angrier.

"You stay the hell away from her!" Kaname menaced.

"Why? From what I saw she looks delicious." he teased him. Yuuki was getting madder with every minute that passed.

The floor cracked, and the windows exploded. Aruto put his hands above his head as a sign of reddition.

"Fine, fine, I'm just teasing you, I have no intention of harming any human."

This arrogant version of Aruto annoyed Yuuki almost as much as Kaname's behaviour. In her real body, she felt the tickle come back and all of a sudden, electrical arcs started forming around her bat. This wasn't supposed to happen, she wasn't supposed to be able to control the bat physically. Thankfully, only Aruto saw what happened and Yuuki felt him pannick. With all her will she did what she was not supposed to do, she started flying, without Aruto's help. She must have drunk a little too much of his blood. She flew around the house, got lost and finally got out. Once she was out she had two certainties. First, Hayato had seen her bat, she could still feel his glance on her and second, she knew this house.


	26. Chapter 28&29

**I don't own Vampire Knight.**

* * *

Chapter 28: Surprise

Yuuki was sitting on her bed facing the back of her room. She heard the opening door, felt the mattress bend and Aruto's arms closing around her. She laid against his chest and let him kiss her shoulder and cradle her. Finally, she turned her face to his and looked at him for a minute before her lips crashed onto his. They kissed deeply, Yuuki let him lie her down on the pillows. It seemed like ages passed when eventually, Aruto broke away from the kiss and swiped the tears that had slowly started to fall down Yuuki's cheeks. Her face remained calm however.

"What's wrong Milady?"

"I was just thinking about earlier, how I hated the side of your personality you showed the Kurans and how odd this house felt."

"My parents wanted me to behave like that. And yes, I guess this house is really big and a little gloomy, so you could call it odd."

"No, it's not that, it felt like I had been there before, but I don't remember it."

They did not talk about it anymore.

Their meetings were a little less fun without Arisa. Yuuki and Aruto called her regularly, she was in a room with a girl called Maria Kurenai who was sickly and slept so well, usually, that there was no problem with calling her in the middle of the day. She didn't get along with Kaname, she had to respect him as he was the dorm leader and a pureblood, but she hated him truly. He showered her with tons of questions about Yuuki and so did Kaien but she remained vague enough so that she wouldn't lie but wouldn't tell too much either.

In the middle of one of the council meetings, she called them and during the first seconds of her talking they understood that something was wrong. At first, they didn't understand a word of what she said, she spoke too fast and indistinctively. Yuuki asked her to repeat more slowly.

"We had a visit of Asato Ichijo, the head of the Senate, last night." she explained. "He asked me lots of questions and, to reassure lord Kaname, he promised to come visit Shinrinchi next week."

"What did you tell him?" Yuuki asked.

"He asked me if there were any vampire student or members of the administration. I told him there were, but I didn't know how many and I gave him Mr Mori's number. I had to."

"Fine, don't worry, we'll deal with it."

"He doesn't know about me?" Aruto asked.

"I heard Lord Kaname mention you but I'm not sure." she replied.

They hung up, ran to Mr Mori's office and opened the door without coming. They nearly hit Mr Mori in the face as he was apparently heading out.

"The Senate is coming!" they shouted all together.

"I know, I was going to come and tell you."

"What should we do?" Aruto asked.

"Come in and sit down." the director invited them. "Let's see, our biggest concern is that they know both too much and too little. They probably know about Yuuki's position since she told her Father who must have told the Kurans. They know that Lord Aruto is here, but they believe you don't know each other. So, what I propose is that Yuuki and the remaining eight members of the council meet them without Aruto."

"They will probably ask to see Aruto." Yuuki pointed.

"You will simply indicate them his mansion." Mr Mori said.

"That means I will sleep elsewhere this night." she replied.

"Honestly, I don't believe you'll sleep much."

"Fine, when are they coming?" Aruto asked.

"Next Friday."

"That only leaves four days to prepare." Sosuke intervened.

They got back to Yuuki's office. They sat in the sofas, but nobody spoke a word, they were far too focused on what they would do or say.

"We will tell them about the rules and the guarding teams we put in place." Yuuki decided. "The question is, do we include the two hunters or not?"

"We should probably ask them." Mayumi said.

Yuuki summoned the pair. They wished to remain hidden from the vampire officials. Yuuki still asked them to keep their eyes wide open during that night, she couldn't risk the discovery of their secrets. By Thursday afternoon, they all knew what they had to do. Aruto would go back home but keep his bats ready around the school. Emily would welcome them with Sosuke at the gate, he would not speak a word and she would entertain them by talking too much to make them relax. Mayumi, Ryusei, Ken, Yamato and Rento would remain silent by Yuuki unless they were asked to talk. Finally, Hiroto would be near his father. Theoretically, only Yuuki and the director had to talk to the Senate.

On Thursday evening, Yuuki could not find sleep. It was not only the nightmares she had been having since going to the Kuran manor, it was also that she was stressed out. She kept turning and turning in her bed. Eventually, she woke Aruto up. He said nothing but tied his right arm around her waist and combed through her hair with his other hand while giving her small, light kisses on the eyelids. She buried her head into his chest and breathed in his calmed her down a little. She lifted her face to his to kiss him too. She started with his nose, then both his cheeks and finally his lips. They continued until she fell asleep, still kissing him and his hand still in her hair.

The next morning, Yuuki found it hard to stay focused in English and in maths, but she was a good student now and could afford to not pay attention a little. She found the rest of the council at lunch but none of them talked. They were all preparing for the night. As part of their collaboration, the two hunters explained to her their plan whiwh satisfied her. She stayed on Aruto's laps for the rest of the pause. They had been preparing for this moment for the last month and a half. She would be ready.

* * *

Chapter 29: The Senate

At nine exactly, the Senate arrived and Asato Ichijo was not alone. There were nearly twenty with him. As they had decided, Emily welcomed them and threw to them tons of information about the school from its history to the fees. Sosuke was behind them. He had taken a dagger with him, just in case. Mr Mori, Yuuki and Hiroto waited side by side in the meeting room. A few meters away, the five others stood. Aruto's bats were in place. Yuuki wore her uniform with heels and her cape. Her makeup aged her a little and Aruto had styled her hair as a French roll. She was scared but did not let it show.

Asato Ichijo stepped in the room and with him came a darkness and coldness that made everybody uncomfortable. He shook Mr Mori's hand, ignored Yuuki and made every vampire student kiss his right hand. Yuuki let him do, impassibly. When he was done, Yuuki took a step toward him, extended her hand for him to shake and told him:

"I am Yuuki Cross, student president. But you already knew that. Welcome to Shinrinchi School." Reluctantly, he shook her hand and she gestured toward the table. "Shall we?"

With the director, they had decided that Yuuki would sit at the far end of the table, directly facing the head of the Senate. He sat on her right and Hiroto on her left. The other council members were not around the table but on chairs against the wall. The members of the senate took place around the table and the conversation began.

"I don't see Lord Toma, I was expecting to have the pleasure to greet him." Ichijo attacked first.

"I'm sure you could go to his house afterwards." Yuuki replied, unimpressed. "But this is surely not the point of this meeting."

"No, it's not. I'm more interested in knowing how an insignificant and weak human like you came to overrule a pureblood lord." he almost spit out.

"Maybe I'm not so insignificant and weak and maybe it's convenient for him to have me do the job. Or maybe it's just that they all respect me, Aruto Toma included." Yuuki said calmly.

"How many vampires are there here?" he asked abruptly.

"104." Mr Mori said.

"And you let a human take decisions for them?" Ichijo laughed as if it was absurd.

"She takes good decisions and besides there are vampires in the council."

"Tell me young girl what are those rules you invented?"

"Basically, the same as the night class's rules: no human blood, no attack against humans plus a little help with guarding the school from time to time."

She explained him how the turns for the guarding worked.

"And lord Toma, does he do that?"

"He's done it once to show a good example." Yuuki lied.

"I'm not sure your family rejoice at the thought of you being surrounded with so many vampires." Ichijo attacked Yuuki.

"They don't really know…" Yuuki said carefully.

"They shall be delighted when I'll tell them." he smiled.

"I would appreciate it if you did not."

"Why would I do that?"

"I told you, the vampires here including Aruto respect me, what do you think would happen if I asked them all to go against you?" she threatened.

"Nothing, you're not powerful enough little brat." The lights went off and the windows shattered.

"Are you sure?" she asked still with her threatening voice.

She was in the position of power now. The three vampire council members had gotten up and gathered behind her, eyes glooming red. The senate member got up too. There would probably have been a fight, that Yuuki would have won since she had two hunters and fifty other vampires waiting outside, if Aruto's bats had not come flying in the room. He re-formed his body in front of Ichijo.

"If you touch only a hair of one of the persons of this school I promise you you'll regret it." he threatened.

"Lord Aruto." Ichijo bowed. "I'm sorry, it's just this arrogant little girl."

Aruto got closer to Yuuki and put his arm around her: "This little girl is my president, you better remember it. Yuuki, what are your conditions for him to leave safely?"

"He will not mess with our rules or bother us anymore. He will give us full power over the vampires of this school. He will not say a word to my family or the Kurans about me knowing you or the number of vampires here… And, he will recognise me as the leader of every vampire here." Yuuki stated.

"I won't, there is no way I'll recognise that you have any power over a pureblood and nobles." Ichijo shouted.

Yuuki had taken antivampire knives from the two hunters. One of them flew directly to the arm of one of the senator as soon as Ichijo finished his sentence.

"Next time, I'll aim for the heart." she said casually. She and Aruto smiled.

Ichijo seemed to hesitate. Too bad for him. The leg of another senator exploded, Aruto's doing. Both of them still smiled, side by side, defying the old vampire. He looked as if he was going to burst with anger, but he had to remain calm in front of a pureblood.

"You wouldn't kill anybody, you're Kaien Cross's daughter." he said.

Yuuki looked at Aruto and nodded. One of the senators became ashes in the next second. Ichijo clenched his teeth.

"Alright, I'll accept."

"Don't think about telling your grandson either and if you don't respect our conditions, we'll know, and you'll suffer from it. So, don't try anything stupid." Yuuki commanded.

Ichijo eventually bowed to her.

"Well, now that this is settled. What about a tour of the school?" she said on a lighter tone.

She led the remaining senators around the school, showing them the classrooms, the gyms and the dorms. She explained what they had done in the gardens and kitchens. Unsurprisingly, Ichijo and the senators remained silent. Yuuki was triumphant and Aruto remained by her side the whole time.


	27. Chapter 30&31

**I do not own Vampire Knight.**

* * *

Chapter 30: Zero

Their tour ended. Yuuki and Aruto escorted the senate out leaving the rest of the council and the director in front of the main building. They arrived at the gate where they stopped. All the senate members went out but Asato Ichijo. He stayed behind to say good bye to the pureblood and the lady. He kissed both of their hands.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Lady Yuuki." he lied.

Yuuki bent forward to murmur in his ear:

"Remember our agreement. If you betray us, we'll know, and you'll regret it." she threatened him.

He left without another word but Yuuki could see the anger in his eyes as he walked away. She took Aruto's hand and they watched the senate leave. They went home walking hand in hand without a word. Just the same way, they went to bed silently to try and grab a few hours of sleep before the sun rose. Only when Yuuki was safe in Aruto's arms, she sighed with relief. It was over, at last.

The next morning, they took a long breakfast together, it was Saturday after all, and they had all the time in the world. They ate oatmeal, omelettes and smoked fish with fresh fruits. The cook had surpassed himself. They were in the library right after the meal and they read side by side on the couch. The butler came in looking quite panicked which made Aruto sighed. He bowed to his young masters and told them:

"My Lord, my Lady. Hiroto Mori is at the door, he wants to see you my Lady. He insisted on the fact that it was a matter of the utmost urgency." the butler stated.

They followed him in the corridors, Aruto pouting while holding Yuuki's hand. It was pretty obvious what he thought, and Yuuki herself would have preferred to have a quiet day without the usual drama for once. Hiroto was waiting in one of the armchairs that furnished the entrance. Yuuki and Aruto had thought that their butler looked panicked but after a glance at their friend, they reconsidered: the butler was very calm after all. Hiroto ran to them, and before they had time to say hello he began.

"Lady Yuuki, I came as fast as I could. Your friend Zero Kiriyuu…" he took a hard breath, "he is at the school."

"I beg your pardon?" Yuuki reacted astonished.

"He apparently came to see the hunter Kaito and… you."

"Good, he will find Kaito first and I will have time to go back to my old dorm room."

"Hum, that's the problem Lady. He went directly to your room and that idiotic hunter told him you were not there."

"Aruto we're flying there." Yuuki hissed.

He took her hand and took her to the school almost instantly, leaving Hiroto alone in the mansion. They landed in front of the gate. Yuuki was so mad that she could feel where that traitor hunter and her friend were. She fell on them like a storm and immediately attacked the hunter:

"Have you forgotten our agreement?" she spat on him.

"I'm sorry princess but unlike you I don't lie to my friend's face." he replied.

"But you break your oaths?" Yuuki calmed down a little.

"I didn't tell him everything, but now that you brought that boyfriend of yours here I'm pretty sure he knows." he provoked her.

"How dare you?" her dagger was out.

He took his own blade out in a second, but, before either of them could swing the first move, Zero and Aruto were between them.

"What on Earth is that?" Zero asked. "Weapons down, both of you! Yuuki we obviously need to talk, do you know a place where we could."

"My office." she replied and took her dagger away.

She started heading to her president office and when Aruto seemed to want to come, she touched his arm and he read in her eyes that she needed a moment alone with her childhood friend. On the way to the office, she could not read Zero's face. She did not know if what he felt was anger, concern or incomprehension. She opened the door of her office and let Zero get in. They both sat on the sofas, facing one another.

"This is your office because you're student president?" he asked uncertain.

She nodded.

"Yuuki why do you walk in the school armed?"

"This is your first question?" she said. "I left home quite mad at Kaito and I guess I grabbed this weapon without realising it."

"You know how to use it?" he seemed surprised.

"I've been training every day for the past six months Zero."

He stopped for a while before asking: "Home you said. Where do you live?"

"Down town…"

"With him?" as she did not answer he ordered in a low voice: "Answer the question Yuuki."

"Yes, with him."

"This is madness."

He got up abruptly and almost crashed on Yuuki. Without further warning, his fangs dunked into Yuuki's neck.

"What are you doing Zero?!"

"Looking at what you hid from us all this time."

"Get off of me."

But he did not get off of her. He continued drinking until Yuuki felt so weak she was on the verge of fainting. He pushed away from her but the anger in his nice had not diminished, if anything it had grown stronger.

"You're with him? You sleep with him?" he did not let any time for her to answer. "God, Yuuki, you let him drink your blood?"

"I let you too that's no big deal and at least he does not drain me!" she shouted.

"He's a pureblood!"

"Yes, he is." she replied.

"For once I'm siding with Kuran, this place is no good to you."

"Don't you dare tell Lord Kaname about this."

"Or what?" he asked.

She thought about it, there was no point in threatening to kill him or never talk to him again, it would not work because he knew she was not capable of it, not with him, and besides, he probably did not care as long as he believed she was safe. Then she found what to say, but Zero already interpreted her silence as a way of saying "nothing". He was about to say something when he heard her whisper.

"I'd let him bite me." she said.

"You wouldn't." he blurted out in shock.

That's the moment Aruto chose to open the door violently.

"Yuuki what's going on here?" he said then saw the blood on her neck and her face whitened. "You fool."

He turned to Zero with the intent to hurt him at least. Yet Yuuki stopped him and got up but she was not strong enough anymore. He caught her and she told him:

"Don't hurt him, put him to sleep and give him to Kaito, it will buy us time to figure some things out." she demanded.

Using his pureblood strength, he did as she asked and handed him over to Kaito with the order to let them know when he would go back to Cross Academy. One could say, the hunter was not pleased.

* * *

Chapter 31: The ultimate weapon

Yuuki slept through the afternoon. When she woke up, not only Aruto was by her side but his parents too.

"It seems like we have things to discuss, little girl." Lord Toma said.

"Aruto told us what happened, if that friend of yours tell the Kurans, we'll do everything we can to protect you." Lady Alana said.

"And our son." her husband added. "You did not make it easy on us child."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble." she apologized.

"No, but you work as a pureblood, you use those around you to come to what you want. I'm not blaming you, I do the same."

Yuuki smiled at the old Lord. Aruto told her he had explained to his parents what happened with the Toma blade. They were intrigued but had a theory. The sword was conceived using a little bit of their ancestor's blood, so maybe, since she was the first holder to have drunk the blood of one of them, she had awoken some powers that they did not know of. Aruto continued the explanation by telling her that they wanted to do an experiment. She was very weak, and the blood of a pureblood could make her feel better. So, instead of drinking his, she would drink the blood of both his parents, like that, she would have the blood of several Tomas in her veins and that could trigger the full potential of the sword. She agreed to this weird proposition and Aruto's mother went to the kitchen, came back with two glasses and, with her husband, they filled one cup each with their bloods. She started with Alana's blood.

"Ew, I'm sorry. I don't know if I can keep it down." she said.

"You have too." Kukai told her while handing her his cup.

Eventually, she drank the whole thing. It was true that she felt better. She could stand and walk now. She took a few steps, stopped and considered something. She tried to focus as hard as she could on the sword that she kept in her wardrobe. She instantly felt the tickle and a strike of lightning crossed the room. When it vanished, there was no sign of burn, but the sword was in her hand. She could feel it. Not the weight of it but its power. She could only describe it as water, but water she could grab and hold. She tried with her free hand to take a little of the power and ended up with a ball of glistening blue electricity in her hand.

"Well, that was radical." she said.

Aruto looked amazed and his parents frightened. Alana had her eyes wide open and her husband was kind of hiding behind her skirt.

"It worked, but if you could get that away from us that would be great, child." Lord Kukai asked.

She thought putting it in the closet again and the sword disappeared as it came, in a strike of lightning. The two adults seemed to breathe again. They went downstairs to discuss Zero's case. Lord Kukai proposed to kill him to avoid any problem. Yuuki opposed it ferociously.

"The point is not to stop him, it is to figure out what we'll do when the Kuran discover about Yuuki." Alana intervened.

"If they discover." Yuuki corrected. "I used the leverage I could to try and make Zero stay silent."

Aruto raised an eyebrow but Yuuki made a sign to tell him she would talk about it with him later.

"Still, we need to prepare. After all, even if this boy doesn't talk somebody will eventually." Lady Alana stated.

"The risk is the Kurans could declare war on us if they feel like we threaten you." Kukai continued. "Since they know you're here now, this is the first place they would look at."

"Meaning we'd have to move at least temporarily." Yuuki finished for him.

"Indeed." he said. "We have a small cottage in the mountain, it was my father's property, but we never set foot in it. I'm almost certain the Kurans wouldn't know about it."

"We could go there but what about you and Mother?" Aruto asked.

"We are not directly related to Yuuki or your agreements with the Guild and the Senate, if they are smart enough they won't attack us." his mother explained.

"And if they do attack, we'll come with you and after all, we have the ultimate hunter on our side." his father went on looking at his son's girlfriend.

All agreed to the plan. Yuuki reported to the council to explain the situation and warn them that they might disappear for a while. She retired to her room with Aruto. She sat on the bed and Aruto stood above her. He had his knee on the bed and lifted Yuuki's head up.

"Now, what is this story of leverage? What did you threaten him of?" he asked.

"I told him that I would let you bite me if he told the Kurans. That's his greatest fear, me becoming a vampire."

"I would not do it."

"You would, I'm your president, I could order you to do it."

"True. But I hope it will not come to it."

"There are two scenarios. Either he believed me, and he will not tell them to protect me, in which case we do nothing, or he thinks I was bluffing and he tells them."

"In this case I turn you." he finished for her. "Are you sure?"

"I am, I've been considering it for quite some time now. I could live way longer, never get sick and be powerful for once." she explained.

"You could lose your powers with the sword." he tried.

"Or I could keep them and become the most powerful ex-human ever made." she completed. "Zero never lost the ability to carry anti-vampire weapons even after he was turned."

"We'll discuss that in due time Milady."

He kissed her forehead, then her lips.


	28. Chapter 32&33

**I do not own Vampire Knight.**

* * *

Chapter 32: Suspicion

The next morning, they got word from Kaito that Zero had awoken, that he was really pissed, obviously, and that he just got in a cab to go back to the Academy. That gave them approximately the day before having to take a decision.

Yuuki and Aruto were in their room packing, or rather trying to pack. It was not the easiest thing because Aruto kept taking her in his arms and kissing her which made it hard to focus on the suitcases.

"This is really what you're doing right now? We are in a state of emergency and all you think about is cuddling." she giggled.

"It's the most important thing don't you think?" he teased her.

"I'm done anyway, I'm going to the garden to see what I can do with my new powers." she said.

She did not take her sword with her but once in the garden, she summoned it like she had done the day before. It came in her hand as easily. Once again, she felt the energy. She held a ball of it in her left hand and tried to throw in the distance it at some point. A strike of lightning started from her hand to the exact point she aimed for. The ball was still in her hand. She played with it, made spirals out of it, gave it the shape of a whip and even of a sword. She focused back on the lightning she had created earlier, she wanted to see what the impact look like. She started walking toward the place that was probably three hundred meters away. She had not taken a step when all of a sudden, she felt light around her. The next thing she knew was that she was standing in front of the impact. She had travelled through the lightning she created somehow. Of course, she lost interest in the impact and rather tried to understand this ability to travel. She concentrated on the gardens of the school with the intention to go there and, the same as before, she landed there. She looked at her watch, less than one second had gone by. This was even faster than Aruto's bats. It was as if she was traveling at light speed. She used the same technic to go back home but unfortunately, she had focused on her room at the mansion and this is right where she landed. She scared Aruto to death. He jumped three meters away from his previous position and looked at Yuuki with a mix of fear and surprise.

"What was that?!"

"I guess I can teleport, it's not exactly discreet but quite effective."

"Could you put the blade away, please."

She made it disappear. He hugged her.

"How did that happen?"

"I just thought about it and the next second I was somewhere else." she explained.

"Okay…"

"What were you doing?"

"Some research."

"About what?"

"You and the nightmares you told me you had. I think I might have found something, but I need to talk to my parents first." he told her.

"Can you do something about it?" she asked.

"I don't know yet. But what I'm certain of is that I need to talk about it with my parents first and if there is something we can do, I'd have to turn you anyway, so we'll see later when we have news from your family."

Yuuki sat on his lap and buried her face in his neck. Since they got back from the Kuran manor, she had had nightmares almost every time she fell asleep. Of course, she had nightmares before, but they were not so strong and the simple presence of Aruto by her side was enough to keep them away. Not anymore, she had dreamt of blood, slaughter and a chained man with bi-coloured eyes for the last week. She had reported to Aruto every vision she had during those dreams. She did not care about having to become a vampire, she would be happy about it even, the only thing she wanted was to get rid of those awful dreams.

They were still in the same position when they heard Lady Alana call them from downstairs. At the same moment, Yuuki's phone rang. They ran to Aruto's mother.

"Kids, I guess we have an answer." Lord Kukai declared and showed them a paper. "A bat from the Kurans came."

" _Aruto Toma, we give you one day to release our precious Yuuki Cross. If you do not release her within the day or if you harm her in anyway, we will come ourselves to destroy you._

 _Kaname Kuran and the Kuran family_." Aruto read out loud.

"This is Kaname's writing, his parents would have never said it like this." Yuuki said.

She looked at her phone and read:

"My father says: _Yuuki, you're in danger, Zero told me, come back home now!_ The other one is from Kaname: _Yuuki get the hell out of this house now, I swear if this rat touches another hair of your head, I'll kill him immediately._ "

"I guess that means we're going on a mountain trip." Aruto tried to joke but was too nervous for that.

His parents gave them the address and said they would cover their tracks. They picked up their suitcases. Lady and Lord Toma hugged their son goodbye, then Lady Alana hugged Yuuki too and Lord Kukai patted her back.

"Be safe, child." he told her.

She took Aruto's hand and they were off to the mountain cottage. Compared to the mansion, it was really small. An open kitchen with a dining and living area, in the middle of which there was a fire place, and a single bedroom to which was attached a bathroom. Everything was practical, from the kitchen to the couch and from the double bed to the shower. The first thing they did was cleaning the house and changing the bed sheets before eating a simple dinner. Neither of them was really hungry. They then sat together on their bed.

"He told them." Yuuki said. "I have to do what I threatened to do."

"Lady Yuuki, don't you want to wait another day to be sure." Aruto asked panicked.

"Aruto, if you don't do it, I'll teleport myself to the nearest pureblood and ask them to do it." Yuuki sighed. "Don't try to walk me out of this, I've been thinking about it since the day I found out it was possible."

"Fine, I'll do it."

He took her in his arms and put his face against her neck. He hesitated, but finally he sank his fangs into the soft skin above her shoulder.

* * *

Chapter 33: A vampire

The first thing she felt after the quick pain of the beginning of the bite was a coldness that started from her neck and spread all over her body. Immediately after, the coldness turn into extreme heat and it was as if somebody was putting sand down her throat. She could hear her blood run in Aruto's mouth. Her whole world seemed to disappear leaving only red and darkness. She had never asked Zero how he had felt when he was turned but this was far from pleasant. She could understand how horrible it would have felt if she wasn't willing. Little by little, it came back to the kind of bite she was used to with Zero. Aruto was certainly taking a lot. She moaned, and he stopped looking alarmed at her.

"Lady Yuuki I'm so sorry, I didn't stop." he apologized.

Yuuki took his face between her hands and looked him in the eyes to say:

"It's alright, I asked for it. Oh, and while we're at it, maybe we can drop the 'lady' now."

"As you wish… Milady."

They fell asleep, kissing. It was not until the next morning that Yuuki felt the hunger. It struck her right before noon, long after she and Aruto had breakfast. At first, it was just a feeling of discomfort around her neck but quickly it turned to the impression of sandpaper in her mouth. The first time was the worst Aruto told her and assured her that after she would have drunk his blood as a vampire her comfort would increase a lot. She just needed a little time to get accustomed to her new nature. One thing that surprised Aruto was how fast the vampire genes had spread through her. It usually took way longer for a human to fully turn into a vampire. Maybe it was the pureblood he gave her that ran in her veins as a human and prepared her bosy for the transformation.

He guided her for her first bite. He showed her what angle she should take so that they would both feel comfortable. He told her his favourite spots to bite. She went for the base of the neck, it was what felt the most natural. First, she felt her fangs grow, it was as if something was gently pulling on her jaw. Then, she opened her mouth and stuck her fangs in the tender skin. The feeling was amazing. His blood was rich, sick and sweet, she felt it flowing from her mouth to her throat. She groaned out of pleasure, there was no way she was going to stop. The euphoria of the first gulp receded, now she could taste the different flavours. There was a hint of spice, something metallic and other flavours that were best described as emotions: a lot of love, some admiration, an aftertaste of fear and some concern. Yuuki thought that she could go further into his heart but did not want to look intrusive. Besides, it was time that she stopped. She let go of him, her fangs retracted, and she licked the wound close softly. She rose and she and Aruto looked at each other. He had a huge smile on his face. He leaned forward and licked the single string of blood that was dripping from her lower lip.

"For a first bite it was really clean." he laughed.

"Have you seen a lot of them?"

"Just mine and my little cousin's."

"But no other ex-human?" she asked.

"You're the first human I turn." he replied blushing.

"Really?" she paused. "You never told me about your cousin."

"He is a Hanadagi. My parents were siblings and they had another sister who married the Hanadagi family's only child. They have had a boy and a little girl together. The boy is three years younger than us and I guess the little one must be five now."

"Your cousins, they are going to get married someday, right?" Yuuki asked softly.

"Yes, they are already engaged."

"You're not engaged, are you?"

"Do you think I would be there if I were?" he laughed. "Is that why you look so upset right now?"

"Maybe." she smiled shyly. "I mean, I know I'm an ex-human now and all, but still, I'd hate to have to share you or abandon you… being abandoned by my real parents is enough for a life time."

He said nothing to that. He only hugged her, and they went to explore the surrounding areas together. They were in the mountains and it was snowing heavily. They were not far, maybe half a kilometre, from the line that separates the part of the mountain where trees grow from the part where there is nothing more than rocks and small bushes. They found a frozen lake in the middle of the trees, it looked solid enough for them to go on it, but they preferred not to tempt the devil, they might come back later. They got back to the cottage. Yuuki made them some hot chocolate. It was one of the only things she knew how to prepare. She used real chocolate that she dissolved in milk on the stove and put a good swirl of whipped cream on top of the mugs. They drank it together and Yuuki made fun of Aruto when he spread whipped cream all over his face. Their relationship was more or less unchanged. The only big difference was that now they could share blood properly, and even that they did before in a less clean way.

After a while, Aruto decided to call his parents, if only to tell them that they were safely at the cottage. He also had to talk to them about Yuuki's transformation and other matter that she did not know of. He promised that he would tell her soon, but it was not safe for her to know just yet. While he was calling, Yuuki started reading the books Hiroto had given her for her birthday. She had never found time to read them but now that she was not going to school for a while, she could. Moreover, she was a vampire now, so she should know about her own species.

* * *

 **That's all for today, sorry I did not upload sooner, I will do my best to publish quicker next time. As promised a bonus chapter will come out on Thanksgiving!**

 **Thank you for reading my fiction.**


	29. Bonus

**I do not own Vampire Knight.**

* * *

 **Here is the bonus chapter. I'm coming back to some key moments of the story from the point of view of other characters than Yuuki. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Bonus chapter

 _Kaien_

Kaien Cross knew that at some point, he would have to let his little girl go, but that did not mean that he wanted to. Kaien was a troubled man, he knew what mistakes he had made in the past. This time however, when his adoptive daughter left his office just after telling him she wanted to go to another school, he did not know what he had done wrong. He could see on her face that she did not feel well in this Academy anymore, and he knew that it was probably partially his fault, but he could not pinpoint the exact reason. So, he said yes, he let her go.

The feeling of loss hit him two days after Yuuki moved to Shinrinchi, when Zero went back to school as well. He remained alone in his kitchen, unable to move, unable to go to his office despite the huge pile of work he had to do. He missed her, she was not only his daughter, she was the child of the only woman he ever loved, and she left him. He started regretting his decision at this point, but what else could he do?

Eventually, he got back to work, he got back to being his happy self for the world to see, but deep down, the wound was still open. He was meditating in his office, using a new technique that included grilled tea leaves, when Kaname knocked on his door. For once, he took him by surprise, the dorm president was usually not the type of person to come in unannounced. He was short of breath too, that was weird.

"Headmaster you have to come with me." was the only thing he said.

Kaien followed him, got in a car and then, Kaname told him what happened. He said that he had lied to him, that he was not proud of it but that he had had to. The rest of his explanation became blurred in Kaien's head; of it, he only kept the first sentence: Juri and Haruka were alive. He would get to see his friends again. The car stopped, he got out with Kaname. They were in the middle of nowhere, the only thing he could see on one side was a forest, and on the other, a cliff with a cave at its base. Kaname walked toward the entrance of the cave. Kaien went after him. Once inside, it looked more like a luxurious room than a cave, it was well furnished, and a chandelier provided enough light for them to see. There were three people in this room. The first one was not familiar, he definitely looked like a Kuran, but Kaien did not recognize him. Maybe he should have paid more attention to what Kaname had said after all. The next person got up when he spotted them. Kaien was relieved to see that he was indeed Haruka, a tired-looking Haruka but still. Finally, he saw her. Much like her husband, Juri looked tired, but she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

* * *

 _Zero_

 _She left me_ , he thought. As every morning since Yuuki had left, Zero woke up to that one thought that haunted him. He knew he did not have the right to be angry at her, not after what he had done to her. Yet, Zero Kiryuu was completely in the middle of the angry phase of grief. It followed the sadness of the beginning and the guilt that came right after. Actually, the guilt had not disappeared yet. He could not help but think that it was partially his fault that she went to another school. After all, what sane human would wish to stay with somebody who drew blood out of them on a regular basis?

He kept doing his stupid disciplinary committee duties alone. Sometimes, he even forgot that Yuuki was not here and he called her when he saw a silhouette in the night. Half of the time, it was a night class student and it made him look like a fool. He did not really care.

The hunger had started approximately two weeks after Yuuki left. He had managed with a few blood tablets, but he still rejected it for the most part, and he had to admit, he was starving, and it had not gotten easier with the passing weeks. He would have to deal with it one day or another. The only thing he could hope for at this moment was that the Guild would give him missions. He had requested it the previous week, this way, he could drink from his targets.

To sum it up, the only reason why he was glad that Yuuki was gone was the announcement of the imminent arrival of three new purebloods. He did not want Yuuki anyway near the adult Kurans.

* * *

 _Kaname_

He stood in the cave and looked at his "parents" and "grandfather" getting up. Juri and Haruka came to him directly and wrapped him in their embrace. They knew he was not their real son, but they had always treated him as if he was. People said that purebloods often got mad because they lived for too long and they forgot what emotions were. Yet, there he was, the oldest vampire alive, feeling like a little boy in his parents' arms. As the love, joy and relief came crashing in his mind, he realised how much he had missed them, how alone he had been in the past ten years. The common belief was wrong old age did not make one forget their feelings. He got a hold of himself quickly and returned to his straight face, he withdrew from the embrace and bowed slightly to Haruka and Juri. As usual, the two of them did not restrain from expressing their feelings, they greeted him warmly before moving to Kaien who obviously was as excited as them.

Kaname walked to Hayato, bowed to him as was expected when meeting an elder and started talking with him. The former king was way more reserved than his children. Kaname could feel that Hayato knew who was. Yet, he acted as he would have with a grandson he had never met. They looked alike in the way that they were both very calm. After a quick chat, they turned to look at the three others talking passionately and starting to discuss what had happened in the last decade. A cave was not exactly the most appropriate places of all to do that. However, they could not go back to the Kuran mansion, Kaname started thinking, as they were still very weak, they needed protection. And Kaname needed to observe Hayato as well as bring Yuuki back, maybe their presence at the academy would allow that.

* * *

 _Hayato_

Cross Academy. Why did he not think about it when he was king? He was amazed at the cohabitation between students. He had been here for the last couple of days but had remained quiet most of the time. He was still evaluating the situation; besides, he did not really know Kaien nor Kaname. He simply watched them as Kaien showed them all his photos and explained how life had been.

He had a granddaughter, from how she looked in the photo, she took her eyes from her father, her hair colour from her mother and her sweet and joyous temperament from both of them. Then why would she go away from her family? Kaien and Kaname did not seem to know the answer, yet, when looking closely, Hayato could pinpoint a few reasons. They all thought that she was an obedient, happy child but cutting her hair before high school was clearly a first rebellion, a warning for Kaname and Kaien. One they had missed. As for his children, they did not seem to understand why she would go either, maybe because they remembered a fragile five-year-old. He, however, could see why a kid would feel trapped in this situation, being overprotected by various persons who should not even see her. It only seemed right that she would explode. A few days later, he encountered another reason. A silver-haired boy came to Kaien's house. He seemed to know the place well, which only confirmed what Hayato had been thinking, he was the last Kiryuu who was adopted by Kaien. What stroke him was his smell, he could recognize the blood of his family running through his veins. He had drunk from her. His children had felt it too, they tensed but did not move and let him do what he had to do in the house. The boy did it with murderous glances.

The three of them started adapting to their new life, slowly regaining their forces. Human holidays where just around the corner and that meant one thing: he would meet Yuuki.

* * *

 _Juri_

Seeing her daughter again was not something Juri Kuran had anticipated, especially not as a human. She knew the girl would not recognise her and a multitude of questions crossed her mind. Would she be capable of not hugging her? Would she have changed? Would she like them? She was nervous, and it only got worse when Kaien and the boy went out to welcome her as her car approached. Kaien had showed her pictures so at least she knew what the child looked like. She seemed happy with Kaien even if the latter had told them that it had not always been easy especially at the beginning. Sitting on the couch, she reached for her husband's hand. Through their blood bond, she could feel his nervousness as well.

She felt her enter the house, using her exceptional hearing she overheard her greetings to Kaname. Two things bothered her. First, she called him "Lord", how could he let his sister call him that? Second, she seemed way more sarcastic than Juri had anticipated. Yuuki stood in the doorway of the living room and her eyes went from Hayato, to Haruka, to her. Juri was unable to speak, she felt that Haruka was in the same state as her. They had their daughter in front of their eyes. Her hair was way longer than on the last picture. She wore a green uniform in which she seemed very comfortable. She smiled but Juri could see in her eyes that she was evaluating them, watching them closely. She was definitely not the naïve little girl they had left anymore. Noticing their distress, Hayato was the first to greet her. Juri and her husband remained silent while the young girl bowed to them and disappeared in her room. Kaname followed her and when he came back, the Kiryuu boy went to her room as well. A few minutes later, they smelled Yuuki's blood. The vase in front of her exploded, she was not able to contain her anger.

"Get used to it, it is Yuuki's wish." her son said.

Nobody was at ease in this room. Therefore, it was a good thing that Yuuki came back alone. Juri could still not talk to her, but Haruka asked her a lot of questions about her school which she answered carefully. She was quiet and watched her daughter trying to memorize every last one of her features. The only thing she wanted to do at this moment was to hug her and tell her how sorry she was for abandoning her, but she could not. Amidst this reflexion, she heard her father ask the question Haruka apparently was afraid to ask.

"Did you cut yourself Yuuki?"

That is when Juri realised that her daughter was way further from the innocent child she had been than she imagined: she could lie without any problem.

* * *

 _Haruka_

He did not expect his daughter to turn out this way under Kaien's watch. Sure, she had his wife's sweetness and his own calm nature, but she also had her grandfather's and brother's calculating mind. He thought she would have taken a funny craziness from Kaien but the girl he had observed for the last couple of days was cold behind the warm smile. There was a sadness in her soft gaze and something majestic and lonely in her way of standing. She might not be a pureblood anymore, but she sure acted like one. It was even more obvious one day after she had a fight with their son. She appeared in the living room wearing a dress with a deep neckline that was eons from what she wore the previous days and in the pictures. To make it even worse, she wore heels, makeup and her hair was up. She was impressive. Kaname did not react too well to the fact that she was going out with people he knew nothing about.

While she was gone, Haruka talked with his wife alone:

"I overheard one of her phone calls, she might have a boyfriend, don't you think it's her friends from her school who made her turn this way. It doesn't look like her, this outfit, this behaviour." Juri lamented.

"What is like her, love? I don't believe any of us in this house know who she really is. What I believe, however, is that we need to support her no matter what, she is our daughter, it doesn't matter that she doesn't remember us. We have the advantage of feeling unconditional love toward her and of not knowing how she was in this academy. We should support her as much as we could."

Juri had a harder time processing these thoughts than he did. He had noticed that she often left early in the morning and went sword training for long hours. One morning he followed her and after a few minutes of watching her and her surprisingly good technique, he interrupted her and let her know that she could trust him and his wife. His daughter genuinely smiled and seemed to appreciate his support she thanked him warmly. Nothing had been harder in his long life than refraining from hugging her at this very moment as she smiled at him.

Soon however, she was gone.

* * *

 _Aruto_

She accepted. Aruto could not believe his ears when she told him that she would come live with him. She moved in the next week. He had prepared the suite in front of his for her. It was weird how much he needed to be around a human like this.

He grew accustomed to her presence pretty quickly. They spent time in the library or the gardens but what he enjoyed most was when she went to bed. He would wait for fifteen minutes and when he felt her heartbeat slowing, he would sneak into her room and watch her fall asleep. He knew she had seen him several time, but he did not really mind, besides he could not stop himself from doing it. One day, she woke up completely however and stared back at him. That is when she said something unexpected:

"Do you want to sleep here?"

She could not restrain herself from teasing him after he watched her as if she suddenly had a third eye. From this day on, he slept in her room, next to her. He never tried anything but sleeping with her, even if she was considered a weak creature by his kind, was magical: it got rid of his nightmares. Slowly but surely, he started wanting more than just this friendship. Was that the reason that pushed him to give her blood, he could not tell. He kept telling himself that it was for convenience or that he just wanted her to have a little more power so that she could more easily be considered his equal no matter how improbable that was. All those sweet excuses he had made for himself turned to ashes when she asked him to drink hers. If she had not cut herself, he might have resisted but smelling it got the best of him. He had been craving it. Her blood was sweet, it carried all of her emotions, her sadness, her determination. He refused to see what she thought of him however.

They were together most of the time, he was with her for the winter ball, he was with her when her father reacted badly to her outfit, he was with her for her birthday and he was with her when she met his parents. Most of the time, their relationship was based on respect and trust that they could do anything together, but for meeting his parents, he could not help but believe that they would reject her. How could they not? She was a human. He could not have been more wrong, they loved her, especially his mother. They had to have felt the same respect toward her as he did. Realising that, his tension eased, and he was able to fully enjoy her birthday. It was the small things he liked the most, her amazement at the mountains, talking in their heads even though they were near each other, watching her with their friends. The day could not have been more perfect, they ended up in her bedroom where they shared their blood, once again, a perfect way to end the day. They looked into each other's eyes for a while and before he could realize what was happening, Yuuki's lips were on his. He responded to it, softly, as if he could not believe it. He had wanted those lips for ages, and there they were, kissing sweetly and slowly. He wanted to deepen the kiss but feared that it would break something, so he just continued enjoying it knowing it could not be their last.

There was only one downfall to this kiss, it made it even harder to let her leave for the holidays.

* * *

 _Kaien_

When he saw the picture Yuuki had sent him, he was upset. He was not exactly mad that she wore dress with a plunging neckline. What upset him really, was that he felt his control over her was lessening. He feared she would not want to be his daughter anymore, even more so now that Haruka and Juri had returned.

Those were the thought Kaien was having when he was preparing the ball. He felt a little bad leaving Yuuki to arrive on her own. He had written a note and left the dress Kaname gave her in her room. She loved this dress, she would probably wear it, anything but the dress she wore at Shinrinchi. He had not showed it to the Kurans and feared their reactions. He was the headmaster of one of the best schools in the country and except for Kaname, all of his students would obey him if he asked them something whether it was at of respect or fear of his hunter skills. Yuuki however would not, not since she moved to Shinrinchi. After all, he was just like any parents he was afraid that his kid would slip through his fingers. And he responded like he used to when he was still working for the Guild: with anger.

Yuuki would anger him once again that night. He was with Haruka and Juri when she arrived.

* * *

 _Juri_

She was chatting with her husband and her friend when her daughter made an entrance that was hard to miss. The dress she wore made her look… imperial… and dangerous. Juri did not like it, it was not the modesty she would have liked to teach her. Kaien's reaction however was a little too negative to her taste. Sure, she provoked him but that was not a reason to look this way. She came to her daughter's rescue and overcame her disapproval. Yuuki seemed thankful only to look uneasy again the next second when Kaname arrived. They got angry with each other but Yuuki still agreed to dancing with him. When they were gone, Juri turned to Kaien:

"I don't approve either, but there is no denying she looks pretty. Look Kaien, I know you don't like her changing but she is not going to be a baby all her life. She's rebelling, it's normal at that age."

She continued watching her two children dancing. Yuuki could have screamed that she did not want to be with him, it would have had the same effect. Her face was closed, and she tensed a little more every time he whispered something in her ear. She was sure that Yuuki would want to get out as soon as the music ended. That is what she tried to do but Haruka stopped her.

* * *

 _Haruka_

Dancing with his daughter, he felt her calm down. Good, at least she did not hate him or distrust him. He had looked at her quietly for most of the evening and he was sure of one thing, she was miserable around her family. He was convinced that she would give anything to go back to school rather than staying with Kaien, Kaname and Zero.

That did not go any better during the holidays. Kaien and Yuuki were always fighting. It came to a point when Haruka went to see his friend in his office and asked him why he was so harsh with her. He could almost see the tears in Kaien's eyes when he told him all he had been thinking since Yuuki left their house.

The climax of their arguments came when Kaien told Yuuki that he had asked the Guild to send hunters to her school. Yuuki left and slammed the door of her bedroom. Haruka tried to follow her to calm her but he stopped in front of the door when he realized he was not important enough to her to change anything. Upon going back to the living room, he crossed Zero and gave him a reproachful look. He knew the young hunter would feed from Yuuki again. He was surprised when he did not smell her blood that evening.

In his bed when Juri joined him, he put his arm around her shoulder as he usually did and told her:

"Don't you think we should turn her back?"

"Just give her a little more time in the sun."

"She obviously hates it."

"No, she does not."

He did not feel like arguing with her that night. There was enough anger in this house.

* * *

 _Kaname_

Kaien had finally decided to talk with Yuuki to try and sort out their problems, Kaname was glad. He was enjoying the first calm evening of the holidays with Haruka, Juri, Hayato, Kaien and unfortunately Zero. Haruka asked if he wanted to play chess. That activity with his "father" was one of the rare things Kaname actually liked doing and probably the only one that was unrelated to Yuuki. Haruka took the game out and was setting it when Zero suddenly got up startling everyone. Kaname was hurt in his self esteem when he detected the presence of an intruder seconds after the hunter. The others were quick to notice it as well. Kaien opened the door and Zero was the first one out with his gun ready to face the enemy. The said enemy took the form of a woman or rather a noble vampire most likely around their age. She apparently was not aware that purebloods would be there and bowed stiffly when she noticed them.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, I need to talk to Miss Cross, she has to come with me right away." the girl said.

Zero expressed their shared feelings very well with his overly aggressive manners but had he not spoken Kaname might have hit her before talking. He always did drastic things when Yuuki's safety was at stake, and he particularly disliked that a vampire wanted to take her away. His anger might have grown even more if Yuuki had not gotten out looking bossy with a suitcase and announced that she was leaving early.

Kaname could not decide on what shocked him most. The fact that the girl called Yuuki a lady or that the said lady left without an explanation. That night with Kaien and his parents, he exploded. Or rather he exploded the windows and shouted:

"I want to know everything about that girl and I don't want her anywhere near Yuuki. Transfer her to the Night Class, I'd better keep her on sight, so she won't do any harm!"

"Are you sure? Yuuki did not react well last time we tried to intervene in her life outside of this academy." Juri pointed out.

A few weeks later, after Arisa's transfer, Kaname was barely calming down from these events when another one made him even angrier if that was possible. The Kurans were meeting the Tomas in their manor. Kaname had not come back to this place for a long time but its familiarity was comforting. The Tomas were not exactly friends with his family and Kaname despised them even more now that he knew they lived next to Shinrinchi. After the problem with Arisa, he had done his researched around Yuuki's school and not only did he discover that there was a property of the Tomas less than three miles away but the heir, Aruto, also went to Shinrinchi. That made him question whether Yuuki was hiding even more than he imagined. Could she know about the presence of a pureblood near her and not tell him? Kaname brought up the subject rather offensively he did not tell him that he already knew about his academic activities but instead tried to determine if the young pureblood would lie. He did not, and he knew Yuuki even if not well. What pissed Kaname more than anything was his nonchalance and passive aggressiveness when he talked about her. If he could have killed him on the spot, he would have.

* * *

 _Zero_

Zero had rarely seen a pureblood as openly angry as Kaname when he came back from the manor. Haruka explained what had happened. To be fair, Zero almost agreed with his all-time rival, the only thing was that no matter how much he wanted Yuuki to come back this minute, he had learned it was not a good idea to try forcing her. Instead, he took the decision to go to Shinrinchi without telling the others and see for himself. The next week-end was a perfect time, besides, he would get a chance to see Kaito whom he had not met for the last four years.

He took a taxi to go there on the Saturday. He arrived in the middle of the morning and went straight for Yuuki's room of which he knew the number after sneaking in Kaien's office. He knocked on the door, but nobody answered. He knew she was not the type to wake up early, yet she should have heard the noise. _She must have gone out,_ he thought despite the bad feeling he had. The fact that he felt the presence of a lot of vampires only added up to his worries. Could Yuuki have lied? He called Kaito to try and meet him. The hunter had an apartment in the school, so he came as soon as Zero called. The latter was so stressed that he did not even greet his friend properly, he asked out of the blue:

"Do you know where Yuuki is?"

Kaito seemed a bit startled and took time before answering:

"At her place I guess…"

"No, she is not in her room I just spent ten minutes banging on her door."

"Hum… She does not live there anymore…" Kaito replied after hesitating.

"What?"

Zero could see Kaito was not at ease, he tried working around his question and did not answer clearly. He was losing patience when Yuuki and a man who could only be Aruto Toma fell on them. Yuuki was mad. She directly attacked Kaito verbally. Zero watched the scene with an astonished face and started fearing his childhood friend for the first time when she took a knife out of nowhere and held it to Kaito's throat. Of course, the hunter responded the same way. Yuuki was not supposed to be so fast and skilled. She was not supposed to be offensive either. Zero had to do something. At the same time as the pureblood, he put himself between his friends to stop the fight. That is when Yuuki acknowledged his presence. She took him to her office, her being president had shocked him too. As expected, they argued, but Zero could not recognize her. He was afraid, he did not understand the situation, so he did the only thing that could help him sort this out. He bit her. Against her will. He knew he should not have, but as soon as he did, Yuuki's memories started rushing in his mind. He saw her against Asato Ichijou and the hunter president, he saw her with the entire Toma clan, and even worse, he saw her with that guy. She lived with him, she slept with him, she kissed him, she let him drink her blood! Yuuki did not react well to his bite. She had changed so much, he could not recognize her in her threatening attitude.

Zero could not remember what had happened after she had told him she would let her boyfriend bite her if he talked, he was too shocked. He woke up the next day in Kaito's apartment. His friend told him that Aruto Toma had put him to sleep and advised him to go back to Cross Academy to seek help from Kaien before dealing with the situation. Still in emotional distress, he took a cab. He arrived at the house, Kaien and the Kurans waited for him in the living room:

"Zero, where were you? Do you have any idea how stressed I was?" Kaien said and reached for a hug.

Zero did not dodge him for once.

"Shinrinchi." he whispered.

Everybody tensed.

"What did you learn?" Juri asked anxiously.

"She lives with him… Aruto Toma."


	30. Chapter 34&35

**I do not own Vampire Knight.**

* * *

Chapter 34: Sharp touch

They had been in the cottage for three days when finally, it stopped snowing. Yuuki had not tried handling the Toma sword since she turned, and it was about time. She got out, without the blade. She called for it in her mind as she had done when she was human. She was relieved to feel the familiar tickle. The sword landed in her hand, she felt no pain. She swung it a few times and there was no problem on this side either. She concentrated to attempt to control the anti-vampire energy as she had before. She was anxious for this one but once again, all happened as when she was human. Even the teleportation worked. She was so overwhelmed by her joy that she had not heard Aruto come.

"You can still do everything? It's amazing." he said in an astonished tone.

"It might be because I have only been a vampire for a few days." Yuuki tried.

"No, you drank my blood, you're one hundred percent vampire now. You should at least feel a lot of pain."

"I don't." she smiled.

"It's good, I guess." he smiled as well.

She sent the sword back to where it belonged and took her boyfriend's hand to go back to the house.

"You were calling your parents, were you not?" Yuuki asked, she had heard him pick up the phone just before she had walked out the door.

"Yes."

"What was it about?"

"The things I cannot tell you about yet." he noticed the face she made: "Don't pout, I might be able to tell you tonight after we do a little thing."

"Fine, I hate secrets."

By the time she said that, they had arrived in their bedroom. Aruto sat on the bed and Yuuki on his laps, her thighs around his waist. He let go of her hand and placed his on her cheek.

"My sweet sweet lady, don't worry, you'll know everything soon." he said nicely.

Yuuki was feeling playful now. She turned her head slightly and kissed the palm of his hand… just before biting him by surprise. She kept looking directly at his face while doing so, so she could see is mouth open widely half of surprise and half of amusement.

"Someone's feeling playful today." he said.

As a revenge, he quickly sank his own fangs in her neck. This was a whole other dimension. Yuuki could feel his bood filling her mouth and his fangs in her at the same time. It was delicious. She heard their two bloods flowing as her emotions merged into his. They felt as one person, their heartbeats synchronised, she could see all the way through his heart. She saw his unconditional love for his family, his love for her but also the weight of what was expected of him, the loneliness of his childhood and his fears and worries. He worried that he would lose somebody he loved, he feared of doing a mistake that would be so important that it would cost him somebody, and deep down, he feared that the Kurans would take her away from him. Still, she knew that he was occulting some things from her, probably what he could not tell her for the moment. Eventually, they broke away from each other. She was still on his laps though.

"It was amazing!" she said.

"Yeah, I've been wanting to share blood like that for quite some time actually. This is one of the reasons why I love being a vampire."

"This is one of the reasons why I don't regret my choice."

"Are there reasons why you regret?"

"No." she said after thinking about it.

"Good."

Somehow, they fell asleep. After all it was the middle of the day and they were both vampires now. They had had quite an unhealthy lifestyle living the day and sleeping at night. Yet, sleeping on her belly with her legs bent was not the best idea. Her neck and back were really sore when she woke up. This is actually what woke her up, the pain. She disturbed Aruto in the process of trying to stand. He opened an eye.

"Dear Lady what's going on?"

"I slept in a weird position and now it hurts everywhere." she replied.

"Come here." he said.

He faced her back and proceeded to massage her shoulder, her neck and all the way to her lower back. There must have been magic in his hand because she felt really good afterwards. She turned around to give him a quick kiss on the lips and ran downstairs. She sat at the piano that was in the middle of the living room. It was less impressive than the one back at the Toma mansion, but she could still play with it. She played for quite some time, concertos and boleros, marches and waltz. Aruto sat in one of the sofas to listen to her passionately. He smiled at her appreciating the progress she had made. The situation would have actually been ideal if they were not on the run from the Kuran family. Nobody seemed to have found them yet anyway.

Just as she was thinking that, the door bell rang. Aruto got up and Yuuki stopped playing. She looked at him interrogatively.

"I told you I was going to tell you the secret I was holding tonight, but for that I needed somebody specific. Please try to understand, trust me and don't freak out." he said which only made Yuuki worry more.

Aruto exited the room to go open the front door. With her new senses, she could feel a little chill when the door opened even though it was in another room. She heard their guest talking, it was obviously a male, but she could not figure out what he was saying to Aruto. The voice sounded really familiar though.

Aruto entered again, in the meantime Yuuki had gotten up. Behind him, a man followed. Yuuki realized why he sounded as if she knew him. It was Hayato Kuran. Anger and a feeling of betrayal rushed through her.

* * *

Chapter 35: Wake up, princess

Before she could explode and get even madder, Aruto explained:

"Yuuki please, the other Kurans don't know where we are, we made sure of it. I swear to you we can explain."

"I give you my word that neither my children or my grandson have any clue where you are or that you're a vampire now." Hayato added.

Yuuki did not know if she could trust him but she calmed a little and sat down.

"I'm waiting for the explanation." she stated aggressively.

"Actually, we cannot exactly tell you." Hayato started. "This young boy lied. What we can do however is show you the truth."

"What do you mean?" Yuuki asked as the anger came back.

"I mean I'm going to give you my blood and then everything should be clearer."

"What makes you think I would do that?"

"Lord Hayato, if we could have a moment alone. "Aruto asked and led Yuuki to the bedroom. "Yuuki I know you're upset but please I'm asking you to trust me blindly one more time. We cannot tell you as you are now because it would destroy you, but if you have any question after you feed from him, I promise we'll answer it gladly."

She exited the room without a word and looked at Hayato. She hesitated but then looked him in the eyes and nodded:

"I accept to drink your blood." she said.

He presented her his wrist. She took it and drew it closer to her mouth. Fighting off her last uncertainties, she buried her fangs in it to be done with it.

The first thing to hit her was a sort of intense fire running through her veins. She started feeling more powerful than she had ever felt. The force of the shock was so overwhelming that she let go of Hayato's wrist. She felt as if she was in a shell but slowly it cracked. The memories started rushing.

First, her last memory, both her parents over her, patting her hair, whispering that everything would be alright, that she was going to be okay. And the blood, a pool of it starting from her mother's face and from her father's head and surrounding her, soaking her feet. She was so tiny, she was only five in this memory. She knew what would come next, all would go black and she would wake up in the snow, alone and lost, with amnesia.

The second one was even worst. It was right before the first. She was curled in the sofa of her windowless living room. The only place aside from her bedroom that she had ever seen. She was scared to death. She could feel a dark, glooming aura all around the manor. Something terribly wrong was happening, she did not know quite what yet. She could smell a lot of blood too: her mother's, her father's and her dear brother's. But some strangers' blood too, one of them smelled stronger than the other, almost like her father's.

The stream kept pouring and pouring in her head. Lonely memories. Happy memories. Sad memories. Sweet memories.

There was this one where her brother brushed her hair and told her that they were going to get married someday. It was sweet at first but then she realized that that was not what she wanted anymore. Anyway, this was not the time to get concerned over those issues as other pieces of her past kept revealing themselves. Herself at the piano looking at her mother playing. Sitting on her brother's laps while he was playing chest with their father. Or simply learning how to read on her own to surprise her parents. She had never had the opportunity to show them.

The anger hit her after. As much as she understood why they had to abandon her when she was five and even why they had decided to turn her to a human, she could not get their reason for not turning her back into a vampire now. She remembered how familiar her mother looked when she saw her again for the first time and how Aruto thought she looked like her father. She finally understood what felt wrong when she was with her brother, his reason for looking so sad. She understood why it was Kaien who took her in. More importantly, she knew now why the mansion had seemed so familiar and why she had nightmares since. She did not find an explanation to her parents' behaviour, why they left her out of the family, it felt as if they had abandoned her twice.

She picked up the pieces of her heart. She had not needed them for the last twelve years, she did not need them now. She wanted to wait before revealing herself to them. She wanted to have some fun. After all, they did not seem to miss her that much after all this time, they could miss her a little more. She hid the real reason actually, that is she did not want to see her brother at the moment. She did not love him as much as she used to, he was not her confidant anymore and she resented him too much. The one she wanted these days, and for a long time she hoped, was Aruto. He had not lied, he had helped her and showed her the truth.

She opened her eyes and looked around. She knew they were bright red, even though she had drunk blood in the past few days it was not enough to cover the thirst of twelve years without even a drop of it. She looked around her. The windows had shattered, probably when she had gotten angry. Oh, and the walls as well as some trees behind were cracked, she must have been even more upset then she thought. She stared at the man in front of her who still had a little bit of blood on his wrist. She had always felt weird being called Miss Cross, as if it did not fit her. That was because she was not a Cross. She had never been a human and Kaien could never have been her real father. She was a vampire. She was a daughter and a sister. She was a pureblood.

She was Yuuki Kuran, the hidden princess of the Kuran Family.

Her father was Haruka Kuran. Her mother, Juri Kuran. Her brother, Kaname Kuran. And her grand-father Hayato Kuran, the last king. He was still standing in front of her.

"Good evening, Grand-Father." she said.


	31. Chapter 36&37

**I don't own VK.**

* * *

Chapter 36: The necklace

"So, you're awake. I guess you're hungry to death right now but that will have to wait, there are things we need to discuss." Hayato announced. "Young Toma, if you would so kindly go somewhere else."

Yuuki sat in one of the sofas regaining control of her eyes and composing herself. It made her grand-father's eyebrows raise in appreciation. Surely, he had not expected her to act so elegant and ladylike just after waking up.

"You must have a million questions, darling." he said.

"I do." She replied but added nothing.

"You're right, questions can wait." he answered to his grand-daughter's silence. "I assume you'll want to see your parents now."

"Actually, I don't. I'd rather stay free a little longer."

"Fine, it makes sense. Of course, I'll keep your secret as long as you want. I guess I can trust this boy to teach you all that purebloods can do." he stated talking about Aruto.

"Yes, I believe you can trust him." she giggled.

"I have a gift for you. If you wish to not let the world see your true nature wear this necklace, it will make you look like a human." he told her while pulling a ruby pendant out of the pocket of his jacket.

"Thank you, Grand-Father. That is indeed a precious present." Yuuki thanked him and took the piece of jewellery.

They looked into each other's eyes before hugging one another as part of a broken family on the way to recovery, at last.

"I did not support my children's choice to leave you as a human." he whispered. "What I support however is your relationship with the little Toma, I trust he will make a way better partner than your brother for you. I love you little princess, never forget that."

He kissed her forehead and left in a cloud of bats after dropping something in her hand: the ring of her family. Yuuki tried to pinpoint Aruto's location. He had apparently gone out to the frozen lake, or so she felt. She decided to try and move like a pureblood using her bats. Only it wasn't bats. It certainly worked but instead of the nocturnal animals, she had pretty purple butterflies. She landed in front of Aruto. His mouth was half open, half smiling.

"Wow, that's so much like you. I heard Sara Shirabuki has spiders instead of bats, but it is the first time I see someone with a different projection." he let out in surprise.

She got closer to him, grabbed his face and looked into his eyes with her glowing red gaze. She bit his neck and drank to her content. She was so hungry after waking up. She let him go when she was done and licked the wound closed.

"Do you know what you can do yet?" he asked.

"My grand-father trusts you to teach me."

"Well, first-things-first, what you did with the blade can you still do it?"

She summoned the sword as she did before and it worked. It did not even hurt her, only now she felt the power ten times stronger than before. There was something she needed to try. She sent back her weapon and tried to get the same power. It was harder, less natural, but after trying for a few minutes with Aruto looking at her not knowing what was going on, she felt it, the tickle and then the sparkle. Aruto saw it too, it was small, but it was a start.

"Well, I guess we'll work on it." her boyfriend declared. "I reckon the Kurans usually control earth and stones and some of them can manage shape shifting."

"Let's try it then." Yuuki replied playfully.

Controlling stones came easily, almost like breathing. Shape shifting was harder, she knew it was somewhere but definitely needed training.

"I think we'll leave some things for later." Aruto decided. "Should we get back home?"

"Do you want to race?" she asked.

He agreed feeling confident, apparently, that as a new vampire she was going to be way slower than him. He clearly did not take in consideration the fact that with her mastering of the Toma blade she could easily teleport. She beat him, of course. His honour as a young lord Toma was hurt, that's what he said. He wanted revenge. This vengeance came in the form of a tickle battle that he won by cheating according to Yuuki. The scene would have made any noble vampire cringe, two young pureblood princess and prince with their limbs tangled and playing a human child game. Yuuki could not explain how the atmosphere had gotten so childish, even when she was a human kid she never played like this. It must have been Aruto's presence that made her behave like this, the trust she placed in him and her love too.

This epic tickle battle ended a little more romantically than it started. After having made Yuuki laugh to his contentment, Aruto proceeded to kiss her collarbones methodically, pushing to the side any piece of fabric that was in his way. She was still giggling and brushed his hair softly with her fingers. It was a soft moment. Aruto broke it first only to gather Yuuki in his arm and carry her like a princess. He made her feel that way.

"You are a princess after all." he smiled.

"You've been listening in my head again!" she said giving him a small tap on the chest.

"I'll teach you if you want." he replied.

"You're a mischievous little prince." she teased him.

"And you're a vicious little princess that's what makes us so well assorted."

He put her carefully on the bed. Then, he walked around the bed to go on the other side and sat on the mattress. He laid down next to Yuuki and looped his arms around her. Her back was against his chest and they remained silent for a while. Both appreciated those quiet times where they were comfortably just the two of them. Aruto broke the silence.

"What are you going to do about your family?" he asked.

"I don't want to tell them that I found back my memories yet. Other than that, I have no idea, I need more time to think about it. I definitely don't want to go against Kaname right now."

"You've got all the time in the world princess." her prince reassured her.

* * *

Chapter 37: Pureblood life

They stayed a few more days at the cottage. Yuuki got accustomed to her new nature. She continued training with Aruto. After three days, the shape shifting came more easily, it was not her best gift, but she could still use it. What she became really good at was controlling the anti-vampire energy without the sword in hand. That was her strongest ability. It frightened Aruto a little to know that his girlfriend could kill any pureblood she wanted with no effort. He could not help her with this, so she usually trained without him. Other than that, she could create huge butterfly wings out of her blood and fly like an angel, she could control rocks and use magic. For the latest, she would need to study a little more as it was not something that came directly to purebloods.

She often caught herself reflecting on the differences between humans, level C and purebloods. Obviously, toward the end, she had been a weirdly powerful human and after that, she had turned into a vampire with an awfully long lifespan. Yet, nothing could compare to the feeling of being a pureblood. She was basically invincible, the only thing that could kill her was anti-vampire weapons and she controlled those. Then it hit her, there was another way of dying. Just as she thought that, Aruto entered the room and asked her:

"Hey princess, I was wondering, if your parents turned you into a human shouldn't they have died? Even for a pureblood, that spell cost us our lives usually."

"You really are reading my mind, I was actually thinking about that." she giggled "I think that since they performed the spell together, it only took half of their life force each which is why they remained sleeping for a while."

"Yeah, that makes sense. But still, I never heard of such a thing. Well, it's not as if pureblodds did that all the time." Aruto said.

"You have a concerned face, what is the matter?" Yuuki remarked.

"I just received a message from my father. He thinks that the Kurans are close to finding where we are staying."

"Well then, I should start wearing the dissimulation necklace my grand-father gave me, and we should head back to the mansion."

"The mansion? You want to stop hiding? And what about your threat to Zero? If you dissimulate your vampire nature, he will think that you were not serious." Aruto pointed out.

"I think I can modify slightly the necklace to have the aura of a level C."

She concentrated on the piece of jewellery. She analysed the structure of it to understand why it could hide her true nature. It was not that complicated for her as she knew what a human or a level C were made of. After a few minutes, she had modified the crystal slightly so that it would only reveal her belonging to the vampire species. She placed it around her neck and under her shirt and lifted her eyes to Aruto.

"What do I look like?"

"Like an average vampire." he stated.

"Good."

They packed their things, finding all the clothes they had scattered around the cottage was not an easy task. They found one of Yuuki's dresses tucked into the sofa and when they looked at each other both holding the piece of fabric, they blushed hard before laughing together.

Yuuki realized she would miss this tiny house. She had made a good amount of happy memories here. Alone with Aruto, she knew she could be herself and that he would not judge her or try to change her.

They were all packed, their suitcases ready. They put them outside and Aruto closed the door behind them. Aruto took one of the suitcases and disappeared in an explosion of bats. Yuuki took the others and tried to do the same. Only she could not do it, she remembered the necklace, took it off, put it in her pocket and turned into butterflies to follow the young Toma. They landed in front of the door at their house. The butler and chief of the housemaids were waiting for them and so were the members of the council that Aruto had warned of their arrival. Emily ran into Yuuki's arms when she saw her, and Mayumi asked her a million questions. The vampires of the council were more reserved. She had not put the necklace back on, and they could feel who, or rather what, she was. Sosuke was the first one to bend the knee, quickly followed by the rest of them. Yuuki sighed, put the crystal around her neck again and told them to rise. Her aura had disappeared, but they still looked at her with wide eyes. The humans did not understand what was going on.

"Guys, why do you look afraid of her all of a sudden?" Mayumi asked.

"She's a Kuran." Hiroto answered in an astonished voice.

"But I thought that those were purebloods…" Emily tried.

Yuuki invited them inside, led them to the library and explained everything to them, from the moment she was turned to a vampire by Aruto until the visit of her grand-father. The conclusion of their meeting was given by Emily, for once. She declared that it did not change anything because she was already their lady, only now she had a birth right to this title. That made Aruto and Yuuki laugh, not the others but they were a lot less tensed than before.

They left right before nightfall. Left alone, Aruto and Yuuki went to their old room, both of them had missed it. They talked in their bed as they used to. Yuuki had still not revealed the smallest hint of her plan to Aruto. The reason was she did not know herself what she was going to do, yet, she needed to think about it and fast because there was no way, they would not find her here. She would need to confront them at some point and had to decide how she wanted it to go and how much she was ready to reveal.


	32. Chapter 38&39

**I don't own Vampire Knight.**

* * *

Chapter 38: Extended family

A day later, Yuuki woke up in distress. She had decided to come back to the mansion but had no idea what to do next. She breathed heavily, closed her eyes and thought: _"What would my grand-father do?"_

When she opened her eyes again, she knew exactly what to do. She grabbed her phone and sent a message. She then got up and headed to breakfast. In the hallway, she noticed something weird. The servants had always been very respectful of her, but now, they were bowing when she passed them in the corridors. She stopped one of the maids and asked her:

"What is the reason of all this courtesy?"

"You're a pureblood my Lady, we are supposed to show you respect." the woman replied.

"But you're not acting this way around Aruto." Yuuki pointed out.

"Kurans are royals to us, my Lady… I mean, your Highness."

"Treat me like you used to please."

"As you wish your Highness." she bowed.

Yuuki sighed when the maid left. That habit was going to be tough to remove from the staff. She wandered around the house looking for Aruto. He was nowhere to be found. Therefore, she went back to her room alone and worked on her neglected school council duties. She was halfway through a report regarding the beginning of the lunch service help when she heard some noise coming from the entrance. She left her desk and quickly moved to the bottom of the great stairs.

There, she saw Aruto removing his coat and handing it to one of the servants while chatting with a boy. The latter was shorter than Aruto and looked younger as well. Other than that, he looked quite similar to Aruto with his golden locks. Yuuki noticed his eyes were golden as well which gave his face a weird monochromatic look. He was dressed well, not that it surprised Yuuki as she had felt his aura. He was a pureblood.

The guys had apparently not noticed her yet, so she moved closer quietly. She overheard a bit of the conversation between them.

"Seriously, Aruto, a new Kuran girl coming out of nowhere… You sure it is not a trap by the previous king?"

"I told you already, I met her before the Kurans woke. You'll meet her in a minute and you'll see for yourself." Aruto replied.

"I'm proud of you, cousin, dating a princess… Not bad!"

"Jealous?" Aruto teased him.

Yuuki had heard enough. She cleared her throat. The boys turned around and faced her. Aruto blushed and the other smirked. Yuuki smiled and Aruto gathered his spirits.

"Yuuki, may I introduce you to my cousin, Kukai Hanadagi. Kukai, here is Yuuki Kuran, the hidden princess of the Kuran family."

"No offense your Highness, but right now you look quite average." Kukai said.

"Nice to meet you too, young Hanadagi. I am actually wearing a dissimulation necklace."

"Kukai don't be rude." Aruto cried at the same time.

"Sorry Princess, it seems I forget my manners. Very nice to meet you." Kukai smiled, his smile looked a little fake.

Then he disappeared, presumably to his room. Yuuki was quite surprised. Aruto laughed and told her that Kukai had always been a little weird. He often disappeared and did not know exactly what was appropriate and what was not. Actually, his parents tried to keep him hidden as much as possible, he never went to the elaborate parties of the vampires even though he was old enough to attend. This meeting troubled Yuuki, she did not know what to think. She was not sure that she could trust this young vampire with her secret, she did not get him, and she could not determine if he was a friend or not. Aruto felt that, regained his seriousness and asked her if she wanted to talk in the library. Silently, Yuuki headed to their favourite room and he followed after her. She sat in a sofa and waited for him to start talking.

"Kukai does not trust people easily. His rudeness and awkwardness are just a tool to him to keep others at a distance. He was always like that… I guess the only person he trusted and let in right away was his little sister. Even I had trouble with him at first, but eventually, he started letting me see the real him. His a truly caring boy, you'll see for yourself once he trusts you enough." Aruto explained.

"Right now, I'm a little confused by him." Yuuki replied. "I guess for now I'll just focus on catching up with what happened at school and I'll deal with your cousin later."

"We're going back to school tomorrow?!"

"I am. If you want to stay with your cousin I'd understand, but I neglected my duties for too long."

Going back to the classroom was easier than she thought. Maybe it was her new vampire capacities, but she found the classes fairly easy and had no trouble catching up. What bothered her on the other hand was the constant attack of a stupid ball of fire in the sky. She had not anticipated the effect the sun would have on her. It was both tiring and irritating, as if any UV ray tried to hit her lightly but repeatedly. At the end of the day the only thing she wanted to do was lie in the shadow and fall asleep. Yet, she had to go to the council meeting. She started regretting having said to Aruto that she did not mind him not coming.

She entered the council room. Emily and Mayumi hugged her, the other welcomed her as well. She took her place at the end of the table and opened the file for the day.

"So, what do we have today?" she asked.

They dealt with the lunch assistance project, the gardening with younger student and more importantly with the relationship with the Guild. Yuuki asked that Kaito be present at their next meeting.

When she went home, Aruto was waiting for her in the library. When he saw her, he said in a panicked tone:

"Yuuki, your father called, he asked to talk to you about a meeting. What's going on?"

"I decided I had to talk to my family. I'm going to meet them."

"You did not tell me about it."

"I did not want to hurt you, but this is something I need to do by myself."

"Fine, I understand." he kissed her lightly.

* * *

Chapter 39: Hurt

Yuuki went to her room to call her dad and arrange a meeting that would include her, him, Zero, the four Kurans and a few selected night class students. To say that she was excited by this event would be the biggest lie ever told, but she had to face the consequences of her actions at some point. The good point was that she had a week to get prepared, the bad point was that she only had a week to get prepared. When hanging up, she sighed, and another sigh echoed hers. She was so absorbed into her conversation that she had not seen Aruto enter and lean against the door. He looked sad.

"What is it?" Yuuki asked crossing the room in a fraction of seconds and cupping his face in her hands.

"I'm hurt. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to think. I wish you'd told me about it even though I understand why you didn't. I don't want you to go. I kind of want it to be over, I want you to reveal yourself to your family and be happy… I'm completely lost and powerless, because none of these are my choices to make." he said sounding desperate.

"I'm so sorry Aruto." Yuuki softened and her face melted into a sad and confused expression, "I didn't know this would affect you that much. I will not come back on my decision but if there is anything reasonable you want me to do, I'll do it."

"I'd like you to take the Toma blade with you. Not only at a safe distance to be able to call it whenever but physically with you to show them you're not defenceless. And I want you to request that Arisa is present, to have at least one ally." the resigned Aruto asked.

"Fine for the sword… But for Arisa, I don't think it would be a good idea because first, we'd be exposing her to danger and second, I'm a pureblood with anti-vampire energy controlling abilities, I'm basically unstoppable. Besides, I'm not going to war."

"Please, it would make me feel so much better." he pleaded, "and isn't the name you found for your ability a little long?"

"I thought about calling it the ultimate power, but it sounded to snob." Yuuki joked.

Aruto pulled her into a hug.

"I'll ask for Arisa." Yuuki promised.

"By the way, what form do you plan on using to go there?"

"Level C" she replied "It's not as if I could show them that I know who they are just yet, there are still things I need to deal with before that, but I don't want them to believe that I am a chicken either, and I promised Zero that, if he said anything, I would turn."

"I don't like it but fine. Can you at least wear the ring of my family?"

"You really want to die, don't you?"

"No, the Kurans might get pissed but they know better than to start a war for a ring and they would not hurt you. What it could is protect you from the nobles who probably feel insulted that you chose me over their lord. It shows them that you are protected by a great family." he explained.

"Alright, I guess."

For the rest of the week, Aruto kept trying to convince her to go as a pureblood or as a human, he also suggested that she takes Kukai with her as a protector but quickly dropped the idea when Yuuki laughed at his face and demonstrated mathematically that that was the worst idea he ever had.

On the morning of the meeting, Yuuki was stressed as she had never been before. Not even the Senate managed to frighten her this way. She put on pants, a light blouse, high heels and make up. Aruto styled her hair into a tight bun and she threw on a cape before exiting the mansion and getting in the black car that was to take her to the academy. There she would be greeted by Arisa before going to the meeting. Her apprehension did not recede in the car. She held onto her sword and kept playing with the ring on her thumb. Under her clothes, she could feel the dissimulation necklace to which she had attached the ring of house Kuran.

When she arrived at the Academy, Arisa came directly to hug her.

"I know who you are, but I missed you so much, so please, forgive my rudeness." she apologised over her shoulder.

"I missed you too and there is nothing to apologise for." Yuuki replied hugging her back.

Arisa was wearing the uniform of the night class. It suited her, but Yuuki knew the young lady would love nothing more than wearing the green jumper of Shinrinchi. Arisa detailed her as well, nodding at the serious look, noticing and frowning at the blade by her side and finally, looking shocked when discovering the ring at her finger. Yuuki left no detail out, for sure. They climbed the hill leading to the entrance together. They were supposed to meet with her family in the living room of the moon dormitory. That was an interesting choice her father made, it was one of the few places in the Academy where Yuuki had practically never been. Arisa led her there but before they entered she warned her former president:

"They have kept me in the dark for the most part of this meeting. But I have to warn you, when I left to come and get you, Asato Ichijo was there. I don't know if it is one of his impromptu visits or if it was planned, but I guess that since we did not meet him on the way here, he's still inside."

"That shall be fun." Yuuki replied to Arisa's surprise.

Indeed, when Yuuki got into the building Lord Ichijo was there accompanied by five other Senate members. The Kurans were in the back of the room, her dad in a sofa, Zero stood in the back too with Yagari Toga and Yuuki spotted Takuma, Aido, Kain and Ruka as well as Shiki and Rima. She ignored all of those who were supposed to be here and turned directly to the Senate leader.

"This was not what we agreed on, he was not supposed to be here." Yuuki said to the attention of her family.

"I took the liberty of coming." the old vampire answered in their place.

"Well I take the liberty of asking you to leave." when he did not leave she added, "Do I need to remind you what happens when you don't take my advice? So? Do you leave, or do you want to be one pet down again?" she asked and took out one of the anti-vampire knives she still had not given back to Kaito.

The five men who followed him left instantly, but Asato stood defying her for a few more seconds. To everyone's surprise he bowed and walked to the door saying:

"I wish you to have a good meeting Lady Yuuki."

Takuma was probably the most shocked of all.

"What did she do to my Grand-Father?" he asked in a terrified voice.

Yuuki calmly walked to the nearest armchair, sat and said:

"Now that everything is as we agreed, let's begin."


	33. Chapter 40&41

**Hello ! I'm so so sorry I did not update for so long. My studies are a little bit more time-consuming than I expected ^^'. Enjoy these two chapters!**

 **As usual, I do not own Vampire Knight.**

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Chapter 40: Between fighting and understanding

She wanted to seem confident but deep down, Yuuki was terrified. What had she just done in front of her entire family? Even for her true self, that was a little bit too much. Going past the shock, Kaien was the first to talk while night class students still had their mouths opened as if surprise had frozen them. Arisa was the only one in the room to smile, she had really missed her president.

"I guess that means you didn't come here to apologize." the headmaster said. There was a sadness in his tone, it was much closer to what Yuuki was used to than the last time she had seen him. She had been taken by surprise by the fact that her adoptive father could get very angry during the last holidays but now he was back to the calm and awkward man she knew. Her expression softened a lot and she started harbouring the same sad look.

"Actually, there are some things I need to apologize about." she told them calmly, "I'm sorry that I disappeared, I realize now that you must have been very worried… And I'm sorry for what you just saw, this man just gets me out of my mind with anger each time I see him, no offense Takuma."

"None taken." the blond aristocrat whispered still not believing what he saw.

"Does that mean that you're coming home?" Kaien asked, he obviously did not care about the end of Yuuki's sentence and the amount of hope that he put in his voice made the young girl's heart sank.

"No, Dad, not permanently at least."

"So, you want to go to that bastard's mansion and you expect us to be OK with it?" Kaname said with just enough threat in his voice to make everybody feel uneasy.

"I side with the pureblood." Zero stated in his corner.

"Well, first, careful with how you call Aruto please; and second, I'm not an idiot, I know you're not OK with me going back to the Toma's, and I will go nonetheless." while saying that she put her right hand where she wore the ring on her knee for everyone to see.

"How many times will I have to tell you Yuuki: It. Is. Not. Safe." Kaname pounded.

"Tell me how is staying there any different from here. I am still surrounded by roughly four purebloods. On both sides I have people who care deeply about me. The only difference is that the Tomas don't treat me as a useless, defenceless child!" Yuuki argued.

"That is exactly why it is not safe! They think they can put you through danger! And what makes you think strangers care about you?" Kaname answered.

"What makes you less of a stranger to me than Aruto?" Yuuki got up and unfortunately lost control of her eyes which became bright crimson. You could feel the step backward that everyone wanted to take.

"You didn't." Zero shouted.

"Remind me, whose fault is that Zero?" Yuuki replied sitting down again.

"What does she mean Zero?" Haruka, Kaname and Kaien asked at the same time, though with different tones.

"When I went to her school and I discovered that she was living at the Toma mansion she told me she would ask Aruto to turn her if I told you anything." Zero explained not letting his gaze off Yuuki.

Yuuki looked interrogatively at Arisa. The latter bend over to whisper in her ear:

"From what I know the only thing he said was that you were living at the Toma's. They do not know of your relationship with Lord Aruto, at least they didn't last time I checked."

"Oh, interesting." Yuuki whispered back.

If looks could kill, Lady Juri would have killed Zero at that moment. It was her husband who talked first however:

"You could have told us about it, we wouldn't have reacted the same way." he stated in a low voice. "While we're at it is there anything else we should know?"

Rather than answering, Zero looked at Yuuki, defying her. Lord Haruka watched them going back and forth from one to the other. Yuuki smiled lightly. She decided that sometimes a little honesty would be fine or fun or both.

"Actually, I do not only live with Aruto." she said slowly.

"Yeah, you sleep with him." Zero completed.

"Jealous?" Yuuki teased him.

All windows exploded, Yuuki turned her eyes to her brother whose eyes were glowing. Kaien got up and tried to ease the tensions that had built up in the room.

"There is no point in throwing each other's fault to our faces. We're here to discuss the future, not the past." his appeasing tone stopped everyone.

"I agree." Lady Juri's little voice rose.

"Thanks Dad." Yuuki said.

"Yuuki, my dear, we obviously want you to come back here." the headmaster stated. "What would it take?"

"I'm not coming back permanently, Dad."

"Will you at least be coming back for the holidays?"

"Yes of course, I'd want that."

"No conditions?" Kaien and Juri asked.

"Just that you don't harm anybody that I care about…"

"If that includes the Toma brat, I can't promise anything." Kaname said.

"Of course, it includes Aruto! And any vampire around me."

"Fine, as long as we see you." Kaien said and quickly started crying.

Yuuki got up, went to her Dad and hugged him. She rubbed his back and told him how sorry she was that she had had to go away. The meeting ended, Kaname, Zero and the Night Class disappeared, Arisa took the time to hug Yuuki one last time before going to class. Yuuki walked to her childhood home with her dad and the Kuran adults. She texted Aruto to tell him that her meeting went better than expected and that she would be sleeping at the Academy. She basically spent the night comforting as best as she could her biological and adoptive parents. They had been the most comprehensive during the meeting. It hurt Yuuki to see that they were wounded by her actions. The only thing she wanted to do was run to her mother's laps and fall asleep in her arms as she had done when she was a kid. But she couldn't reveal herself just yet, there were still things she needed to do before. Knowing that did not make the pain go away however.

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Chapter 41: Down and Up

Yuuki went home the next day. This time she only took a taxi to go to the nearest town and from there, she flew to the Toma mansion. She did not want to spend another eternity in a car.

Aruto welcomed her. He wrapped her into his embrace the minute she stepped a foot through the door. Yet, Yuuki held her composure as she spotted Kukai in the back of the room. It was not until she was in her bedroom alone with Aruto that she collapsed. She was not supposed to cry, she was a pureblood, she was strong, and she promised herself that she would not show weakness anymore. Yet, she could not stand deceiving her parents, not being able to hold them and seeing the frightened looks on the faces of her relatives. She was upset, she was hurt, and, as any vampire would be in this situation, she was hungry. She reached for Aruto's neck. Surprisingly, he pulled himself back. Yuuki only had the time to stop crying and look at him with a surprised expression, he grabbed her and brought her to the bed. That made her smile. Aruto was so affectionate that he made sur she was comfortable at any time, including when she was miserable, craving his blood on the carpeted floor. Then he let her drink from him, she took long sips of his blood, and it helped her calm down. She was actually calm enough to come down for dinner.

Kukai honoured them with his presence. Seeing Aruto and Yuuki together, he started to relax around her, and Yuuki got a glimpse of how he was with his cousin. She was going to like him eventually, she knew it. Kukai had unique hobbies, at least for a pureblood. He enjoyed skateboarding which was usually considered way too low for nobles and purebloods. He did it anyway, that was his way of life. He was always rebelling even when it became dangerous. That was what Aruto told Yuuki afterwards.

This evening cheered Yuuki up a little, and she found the courage to go to class the following day and the following week. Emily, Hiroto, Sosuke and the others could tell that she was out of it. Even when she trained with Sosuke, which she had kept doing even after turning, she let her guard down way more often than usual. At the end of one of the sessions, Sosuke told her:

"Hey, Lady Yuuki, you're obviously upset about something, but you shouldn't let it make you feel down, you should fight it. I know I'm not supposed to talk to a pureblood like this but please, we need our president, so chin up!"

"You're right, I have to find something to fight for to distract me from all this gloominess."

"You'll find it, we did not elect you for nothing."

"Thank you for your advice, I value it."

She got home that night to find an unexpected guest in the library. She did not find Aruto or Kukai, in the entrance or the bedroom. So, she went to the next most likely room in the house where she could find one of them. She indeed found both of them, but they were not alone.

Hayato Kuran, her grand-father, was casually sitting in a sofa sipping a cup of tea. Yuuki was speechless and stood in the doorway trying to figure out a reason for his presence. She could not find one that was positive. She started imagining her parents finding her secrets out or Kaname transferring to Shinrinchi, anything but good news. Still, she somehow manages to move to the sofa and to say.

"Hello Grand-Father."

"Don't sound so afraid, please." he laughed.

"Allow me to be puzzled at least, you coming here unannounced doesn't look too good from where I stand." Yuuki replied.

"I just need to talk to you about something." he said, as she did not reply, he went on, "Could you come with me to the Kuran mansion? Nobody's there currently."

"Fine, now?"

He nodded. The next moment, Yuuki was an army of butterflies flying toward her childhood home. She arrived in front of the door right before her grand-father's bats. He landed just in front of her and opened the door.

"Welcome home." he said.

She followed him along the corridors, to places she had never been. It was her home and still, she only knew the two windowless rooms downstairs where her parents kept her hidden. She looked around, discovering the gloomy hallways, the luxurious reception rooms and the cosy living rooms. Aruto stopped in what must have been his office before he "went to sleep". He gestured for her to sit in one of the comfortable armchairs and started explaining:

"My son and daughter don't want to come back here. At least not until they have gotten you back. I don't know when they intend to do that, I guess we will just have to deal with it when the time comes. Anyway, there will never be anybody here except from me, so if you want to come here, have a room or an office in the house just let me know. Anyway, I did not take you here to tell you that. I assume you've noticed that the Senate is corrupted and not at all what I intended when I implemented it. So, I decided that maybe it was about time that us Kurans take our place back."

"Basically, you want to become king again." Yuuki summed up.

"Yes and no, in the short term yes, but I would appreciate if another Kuran could take over pretty soon. After all, I resigned for a reason."

"Father?"

"He and your mother don't want to be heirs anymore, they don't want any political responsibility."

"Kaname, then?"

"He's not my descendant, he can't be."

"What do you mean?" Yuuki did not understand.

"Right, you don't know. He is not your actual brother. My real grandson was killed twenty years ago when Rido gave him as a sacrifice to our ancestor who happened to have the same name. He had been asleep for the last ten thousand years and his body was so dry that he took the form of a baby and was raised by Juri and Haruka as their own." he said looking sorry "The Kaname you knew as always been your ancestor and not your brother, so don't worry, that doesn't change who you know."

"Still, I believe it will take me time to process this news." Yuuki said after a while. "But that also mean that I am the last viable heir since Uncle Rido was disowned, doesn't it?"

"Yes, that is why I asked you to come here. I need an heir and you would make a marvellous queen."

"No flattering is needed, you are starting to know me well enough to know that I cannot refuse that."

"Yes."

"What do you want me to do?"

"First, we need to pay a visit to a few people."


	34. Chapter 42&43

**Hello ! Well, it has been a while... I am sorry it took me almost a year to update. I made a resolution : I will stop promising to update soon as obviously I can't do it. Rest assured however, I don't intend to abandon this story.**  
 **I hope you enjoy these chapters.**

 **As usual, I don't own VK.**

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Chapter 42: Isaya

Yuuki and Hayato arrived in front of another mansion lost in the middle of nowhere. A pureblood's home, no doubt.

"Whose house is it?" Yuuki asked.

"Isaya's." her grandfather replied.

"Great, you took me to my parent's best friend." she said ironically.

"Don't worry, Isaya is also one of my friends. He won't tell anybody. Besides, he already knows."

"What? Just how many people have you told about me?"

She didn't get a chance to hear his answer as the door opened and a dark-skinned maid appeared. She bowed to them and asked them to follow her. Yuuki was a little angry at Hayato for not giving her all the elements to understand the situation. If Isaya knew about her, what else could he possibly know. They arrived in a dark living room and the maid left them after informing them her master would be with them soon. The back door opened and a slender man with long hair entered the room. When he saw them, he went to Hayato and gave him a warm handshake, he said something to him that Yuuki did not hear. Then, he walked to her and made a small bow before kissing her hand.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you Princess Yuuki."

"The pleasure is mine."

Yuuki looked at her grandfather, she was a little angry at him but at the same time she felt that he would explain everything to her. So, she just waited, following them as they that in the armchairs. It turned out that Isaya had been Hayato's prime minister for a few years before he abdicated. It made sense then that he was the first to be contacted by the former king and that he knew about the secrets of his family. It explained also why he had been so close to her parents, he was a lot younger than Hayato logically he got close to the then young prince and princess. Yet, Isaya was not the same as when he was the king's most precious counsellor. When he was young, he was optimistic, he believed that nobles and purebloods could rule together to create a pacific society, he was married to another young pureblood and everything was going perfectly. Since then, he had seen purebloods withdrawing from the public life, the Senate becoming more and more corrupted and the purebloods being used by the senators. He had seen his own wife give her life to turn their child human so that nobody would use her and then this child grew old and died. The old man before her was tired, he was bitter, and he did not want to live anymore. While she was thinking about this, the two men observed her and eventually Isaya talked:

"I never thought I would be back in politics, but I guess it would be a good project for my old years. You're our hope Yuuki, we're outdated old Grandpas now, but you, you're a young ambitious woman, we need you. So, I hope that you'll accept to be the heir."

"Lord Isaya, even if I wanted to, not fulfilling my duties is not in my nature: I already accepted."

"Wonderful. Now for what we need to do. We can't overthrow the Senate without back up, so we need as many supporters as possible. Yuuki, I guess that thanks to you we can count on the Shoutous and the Anadagis. What you could do now is contact the young nobles, start with the monarchists maybe the Aido sisters to begin with. As for me, I can contact Lord Ouri, Lady Shirabuki, Lady Hio and the old monarchists."

"Could you let me contact Shizuka?" Yuuki asked.

"Are you sure?" Hayato asked. "She's not exactly sane and is not so fond of us Kurans."

"I know but I believe I can manage, don't worry. Trust in me. There are things I have wanted to talk about with her for a long time."

"Fine but if at any time you're not comfortable contacting anymore her, call me." Isaya added. "There is another matter to be discussed. Agreeing to succeed to Hayato is not enough, Princess. To make sure that the return of the monarchy will last and that you will have as little opposition as possible, we need to have a guarantee that the bloodline will continue. I assume that marrying Kaname is not likely anymore, so we will have to announce your betrothal to somebody else as soon as possible."

"Finding the somebody is not an issue, but calm down for a minute, in the eyes of the world I'm still Yuuki Kurosu the now ex-human. It is not as if I could easily marry a pureblood let alone the only heir of a family." Yuuki stated.

"Which is why we would have to wait until we have the maximum number of allies. Obviously, they will know so for them, there will be no problem and what can a handful do if we have over half of the purebloods on your side?"

"True enough. And I guess hiding my nature is not a priority anyway. I'm in, I'll talk to Aruto." Yuuki agreed even though it was not as romantic as she would have liked. "I've a question about the succession. What about Senri Shiki?"

"What about him?" Hayato asked.

"He's Uncle's son. Even though Uncle was disowned and Senri is a level B shouldn't he be involved in our cause? Besides, I would like a spy that is a little more discreet and innocent-looking than Arisa."

"I didn't think about him, but I guess he could be included, my only concern is that he was raised by his uncle who is a notorious senator."

"I can talk to him and if he doesn't want to side with us, make him forget." Yuuki said.

Her grandfather nodded.

"I like this idea too." Isaya commented. "If there is nothing else that your Highnesses wanted to discuss, I'll retire to my bedroom, I just woke up from a long sleep and I still feel a little dizzy."

"We are going to go home." Hayato replied.

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Chapter 43: Royal duties

After a quick stop at the Kuran manor, Yuuki went home. She was exhausted but happy, not that she would let it show but she appreciated her grandfather's trust.

"How was it? You were gone for long." Aruto said leaning against a wall in the corridor.

"It was enlightening, but I believe we should wait for your parents before I tell you about it." Yuuki told him after a quick kiss.

Being the one calling purebloods for a meeting made Yuuki a bit nervous, but she would have to get used to it if she was to carry her royal duties. Alana, Shizuku, Aruto and Kukai sat around her in the cosy library of the Toma mansion. She looked at their faces one by one wondering how they would react. With an assured voice, she started explaining her meeting with the former king and later with Isaya. To Shizuku's happiness and Aruto's surprise, she revealed that they would have to announce an engagement rather soon. She thankfully had the support of the Tomas who were sick of the corruption within the Senate even though they were much closer to it than the Kurans. Kukai assured her of the support of the Hanadagi family as their heir. To sum it up, the meeting went pretty well.

The only downfall she could find was that there was no stopping Aruto from calling her "princess" now. The next morning, she found only Kukai at breakfast. She had spent very little time alone with him and even though he had grown to like her, she still did not know him well. That is why she was surprised that he agreed to support the Kuran monarchy without consulting his parents first. He must have heard her thoughts because as she was thinking that, he said:

"I don't know how my parents will react to the news, but I will talk to them and even if they don't agree with me, you will always have my support."

"Thank you Kukai, you can't possibly imagine how much that means to me." Yuuki answered.

"You are important to my cousin, and I want him to be happy. I believe that for him to be happy, you have to be happy. And you're nice also, when the time comes you will make a far better leader than the one we have today." he added.

Yuuki realized that she really liked her boyfriend's cousin, he had become a part of the household since he arrived. Speaking of cousins, she had to find a way to contact hers. The problems were consequent. First and foremost, he did not know who she was. And, of course, he was very busy. When he was not sleeping or in the Night Class, he was modelling. Worse, Rima was always by his side. Yuuki had no choice but to kidnap her cousin. It was not ideal, but it would have to do.

When Shiki Senri got out of his next shooting, moments before Rima, who was still thanking the crew, pushed the door as well, an army of butterflies abducted him. Yuuki knew that transporting someone who had not drank her blood before would hurt him, but she counted on their family bond. It did not work that well judging by the face he made when they landed in one of the many living rooms of the Kuran manor.

"What on earth?" was the noble's first reaction.

"Hello Senri. Please take a sit. I'm sorry for kidnapping you, but I couldn't think of a better way." Yuuki already sitting in an armchair said.

"Kurosu?"

"Not exactly." as he reacted with an even more confused face, she went on "I mean it is me, but I am not a Kurosu, I'm a Kuran." Better tell him the truth brutally, they would lose less time.

"No, you're not, Juuri and Haruka Kuran never had a daughter."

"They had one whom they hid from the Senate. Do I look like a normal vampire or an ex-human to you? Can you explain Kaname's attachment to me any other way?" she asked.

"No, indeed. But if you're a Kuran and you woke up to that fact, how come you're not with your long-lost parents right now?"

"They apparently don't miss me that much and I needed time to figure things on my own." she explained.

"That doesn't explain why you brought me here… Lady Kuran."

"I called you here because you're Uncle's son."

"I heard that, yes…"

"And even if he was disowned, this sanction should not apply to his descendants, it doesn't matter that you're a noble."

"And what is there to own?"

"A crown."

"The Kuran monarchy was abolished by your grandfather."

"Well our grandfather wants to end the corrupted Senate and reinstall the said monarchy."

"What does it have to do with me?"

"We need heirs, Kaname is not eligible as thanks to your father, he's not my brother but my ancestor. I'm first in line, but we need a second, that's why you're here."

"What happens if I refuse?" Shiki, who looked like he started to think he needed an overdue family history lesson, asked.

"I erase your memory and send you home."

"And if I agree?"

"You don't talk about it with any other Kuran than Hayato or me, you keep my secret and you start your family duties."

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Yuuki could almost see the mechanic spinning behind his eyes. It was the first time somebody asked him his opinion, she could tell. She counted on that to make him go her way.

"Don't get yourself killed, I don't want to be king."

"I don't want to die, don't worry."

"Count me in then."

Chatting casually with him was surprisingly more interesting than she had anticipated. At nightfall, she took him back to the Academy discreetly. There he asked her one last question.

"Cousin, what will you do about my father?"

"I don't know yet."

"Please, before you try anything, tell me about it."

"I will."

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 **So, what do you think ?**


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